


The Special Trio

by solar317



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: US Women's Soccer National Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-15
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2018-04-20 21:20:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4802579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solar317/pseuds/solar317
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Many thanks for reading it and feel free to let me know your thoughts!</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. Blinded by Your Light

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks for reading it and feel free to let me know your thoughts!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title credit to "Love to Be Loved by You" by Marc Terenzi

 

“Carli has a few, she’s got a goal celebration,“ Abby was imitating Carli’s moves and gestures, “and then she stops.”

Abby’s teammate impressions on Carli brought a huge smile on Carli’s face, as well as the chuckles.

Speaking of goal celebration, as a midfielder, most of time, Carli was not the first one to celebrate with Abby. Sometimes, she was a little bit jealous, if it was the right word to describe her feeling.

 

"Forever the Human Tree." Carli once came up with this conclusion after witnessing their teammates jumped on Abby for so many times. Thanks to the height advantage and strong muscle, Abby could carry anyone with no effort.

"I heard you!" Abby ran by with a smirk on her face, and did a quick hug to Carli before heading back to her dominant area.

Carli had no idea when Abby was nearby.

Only that smirk mattered.

Pinoe might beat all of them by having the most creative goal celebrations, but most of the happy and unique goal celebrations in Carli’s memory would be with Abby, especially when they came to each other before anyone else. Carli would serve wonderful assist to Abby who put the ball in net with a diving header. After cheering with anyone who was nearest to her after she scored, Abby would point at Carli, raise her eyebrow and smirk. Carli liked that type of smile, a lot.

 

Abby caught Mia, and even set the bar higher a few minutes later. For a big moment like this, Carli just patiently waited till everyone else on the team congratulated Abby. The most excited Pinoe was trying to do a chest bump after a piggyback on Abby, a very complicated combination. It reminded Carli the extreme chest bump between Abby and Mitts. That was so hilarious that even the entire coaching team could not hold back their laughters. Carli almost fell over while Abby pretended to ignore Mitts with a wide smile.

That smile though.

Carli hadn’t realized that she could remember such details till then.

 

Abby was absolutely the star of that night, her light was even brighter in Carli’s eyes, but Carli had to refuse to admit it, at that time. Abby was taken.

“I’m so proud of you, so proud of!” Finally, Carli’s turn.

"Thanks, Carli!" Abby smiled at her, as charming as always.

So charming that Carli had to walk away, immediately after their hug.

 

 


	2. Here You Come and Put the Sugar on Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title credit to "Sugar" by Maroon 5

Carli couldn’t remember all the details of her first a few years of playing with Abby in the national team. She could barely recall that once Abby yelled at her for some reason during the training, and then she yelled back. However, mutual respect is always easy to be developed among great players. The more they played with each other, and the more interactions they had on and off the field, then the more they knew and understood about each other. Not only as teammates, but also as friends. Although they didn't have the one-on-one breakfasts as Abby had with Hope on a very frequent basis, they did share their lives beyond soccer.

 

Sometimes it was safe to say that Abby put Chipotle next to soccer.

When they were playing together for the Flash, Abby sometimes asked her and Sam Kerr out for meals at Chipotle.

“Carli, you cannot always just have salad! Especially not before training!" Abby then threw the phone to Sam, who was sitting on the passenger side, "Sam, please stay on line with Carli Lloyd, and make sure she's got changed when we get there."

"Okay okay." Sam caught the phone before Abby made a sharp turn, "Hey Carli, we will be at your door in about..."

"5 minutes and 30 seconds!" Abby looked at her watch and said.

"Yep, 5 minutes and 30 seconds," Sam repeated to the phone and joked, "by the way, make sure you jump in the right Range Rover too."

"Roger that." Carli gave in, and before Sam hung up, Carli asked, "Does she look really scary now?"

Sam laughed out loud and was like, "why you guys get so serious?"

 

When Sam could not join them with the meals, Abby still dragged Carli out to get something more than salad.

“Come on, Carli, try this! You’re a polar bear, not a polar sheep.”

"There's no polar sheep on the earth, Abs." Carli rolled her eyes.

"I know, I'm just saying. And you know that's not my point." After carefully "examining" the meatballs, Abby shoved the entire plate at Carli.

During those meals, Abby shared her life stories with Carli.

Some were fun and happy, some were brutal and filled with tears.

Some Abby had told Hope, some Abby hadn’t shared with anyone else, but Carli.

"Abs, there's no way for me to eat this whole thing."

"Don't even look at me, Carli. I've already had mine."

Carli sighed, took a few more bites and then looked straight at Abby's eyes.

"Alright, alright, Carli, polar bear won't do pouty face!"

Most of time, the meals ended like that, with Abby finishing the rest of the food.

"If I keep helping you like this, Dawn is going to be mad when she sees me next month in camp." Apparently, Abby forgot she was the one made that happen.

"No worries, I could help you out with my pouty polar bear face."

 

Carli missed the time that she spent with Abby in the Flash.

Maybe it was one of the main reasons why she would never want to talk with the Flash coach again, after she was traded to the Dash.

 

Ever since the preparation for World Cup 2011, Dawn had arranged several extra training sessions for Carli and Abby together. Carli thanked Abby for pushing her to be better and better. Abby felt the same way.

Carli had been such an ambitious midfielder, and she definitely wanted to score, helping the team win. She could also be a great defender. At least, Abby trusted her enough to do so. Sometimes, waiting in the box for the set pieces, Abby would make the special request to her: “Hey Carli! I'm gonna make it! Get them out of my way!" As intense as Abby’s pregame speeches. In most cases, Carli would see the ball flying into the box, and then Abby was like coming out of nowhere, to put the ball in net in seconds. In other cases, Carli would probably be knocked down by Abby unintentionally.

“Carli, get out of my way next time! I don’t wanna hurt you like this!” Reaching out a hand to pull Carli up, Abby seriously demanded.

As well known, Abby was loud, even Hope could hear that.

The entire team laughed.

 

The entire team also laughed so hard when Abby showed up with a dress for the London Olympics Closing Ceremony.

Abby had no idea why Ralph Lauren made their uniforms as such a “one-piece” dress with a belt, although she liked the hat very much. She could not and would not skip the closing ceremony, so she had to take it. Almost everyone in the team made fun of Abby a little bit, or took pictures with her, but only Mitts dared to let her picture with Abby be put up online.

Mitts was the queen of pranksters, all time.

That was epic.

 

Being with Abby is so much fun, and more than fun.

Carli agreed.

So did Alex.

On the first day in camp, the first teammate that Pia introduced to Alex was Abby. The Abby Scoring-Machine Wambach. Playing with the player that she had been looked up to for such a long time was like the dream came true for Alex. What amazed her more was that Abby was such a likable person.

 

Earning the first cap means a lot for every new national team member. When Alex was told that she would step on the pitch for that very first game, a huge smile showed up on her face. Abby, sitting next to her during that team meeting, was looking at her and grinned. Alex couldn’t explain it but her heart skipped a beat or two, and she even blushed when Abby talked to her after Pia ended the meeting.

“Hey Baby Horse,” Abby leaned a little bit towards Alex, “Can’t wait for your first cap! And I really look forward to your first international goal tomorrow too.”

“I could not visualize the goal though. I couldn't asking for more as someone that could represent my country.”

“Then visualize it from now.” Abby encouraged, putting her right arm around Alex, “I have strong faith in you.”

 

The day when Alex did score her first international goal, Abby was way more excited than her. It snowed heavily when they played against Mexico, but Abby didn’t care. Waited until herself scored as well, she lay on the grass that was completely covered by snow, motioning her teammates to do the snow angel celebration together.

 

As said, when interacting with Abby, Alex had never cared about the age difference at all.

Alex pretty much took most of the initiatives during their relationship that they finally developed later.

Their chemistry off field was strong enough, and Abby definitely knew it.

However, Abby hesitated at first.

The age difference was not the only issue. Abby had struggled a lot.

And what if Alex Morgan deserved a better person than Abby Wambach?

Fortunately, Alex convinced Abby, by the brightest smile on her face every time she saw Abby, by her unconditional trust and support, and more.

She was the one asked Abby out.

She was the one amazed Abby by her beauty, both mentally and physically.

She was the sweetness in Abby’s life.

 

 


	3. If You Stand by My Side, We Can Rule the World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title credit to "Rule the World" by Take That

Abby kept bumping her chest during the Olympics final against Japan, to push herself more and more, and encouraged her teammates.

None of them in the USWNT would like to experience heartbreaking again.

 

For some reason, after their second goal, Abby recalled the scene that Alex crying on her shoulder in her hotel room after their lost in 2011. Actually that whole night was like a flashback playing in her head:

 

Abby thought she was the last one to get out of the bus that night. She didn’t realize Carli was sitting still in the second row until she approached towards the door.

“Oh hey Carli, why are you still here?”

“Hey Abs,” Carli stood up from her seat, turned towards Abby but looked down at her feet, “I’m sorry...” Carli could not finish the sentence but burst into tears in front of the tall forward, for the very first time.

“Carli,” Abby was shocked since Carli pretty much never showed her emotions in this way, like ever, “ Hey Carli, look at me, look at me.” Abby put her hands on Carli’s cheek, lifting her face up a little bit. “Carli, it’s ok. You don’t ever blame yourself. You don’t need to say sorry to me either. You don’t need to say sorry to anyone. It’s ok.”

“You have been working so hard, and the whole team…” Carli lost in words when sobbing.

“Carli, listen to me! You even work harder than me! It’s just a game, and we have London next year. We are going to make it next year!”

Looking at the blue eyes, Carli couldn't breath for a few seconds. She thought it was because of she was crying.

“Carli, you got me? We are going to get the gold next year!"

 

Later, Abby walked back to her floor, was going to get changed and to join other teammates and their families at the sports bar across the street. They lost this World Cup final, but they won the support from the entire nation.

“Alex?” Seeing Alex sitting at the door of her room, Abby was surprised again. Too much surprise at one night actually.

“Hey, I was looking for you.” Alex looked up, rubbed her eyes and stood up. She looked exhausted and frustrated.

“I was talking with Carli on the bus,” Abby looked at Alex with concerns, “Are you ok?”

“Probably not.” Tears started to fill up in Alex’s eyes.

“Geez~ Come on in, Alex.” Abby grabbed her room key out and slided it to open the door as soon as possible.

It took 1 hour 12 minutes and 32 seconds for Abby to completely calm Alex down and wiped away all her tears before they headed to join their teammates and families.

Abby counted the time.

Letting Alex cry on her shoulder but fighting back her own tears would always be a heartbreaking moment for Abby.

Abby would never want to experience it again.

 

Abby shoved over the flashback, concentrated back on the game.

She was very glad that Carli scored twice in this gold medal match.

She also felt happy for Alex who scored three goals and provided several great assists in this tournament.

For herself, the five goals that she scored to be the Golden Boot winner for this Olympics would not make a mission completed if she could not bring her second Olympic gold medal home.

 

Every player on field was tired.

It just depended on who wanted it more, wanted it now.

Finally, the whistle blew, the USWNT won the London Olympic gold, beating Japan 2-1.

“We are the Number One!” Wrapping the national flag around herself, Abby claimed it to the world.

 

Alex didn’t know what to do with her first Olympic gold medal, so she looked at Abby. Abby placed a solid kiss on her gold medal, and Alex did the same with her own. Abby couldn’t hold back her smile and patted Alex’s head. That was the moment when the heart of Alex Morgan was totally captured by Abby Wambach.

 

 


	4. If Love Will Hurt, Then Hurt Me

Abby felt it, she felt the special feeling that Carli had on her. The feeling could be defined as a crush, existing long before Abby realized.

It didn't get clearer for Carli herself until the night of the World Cup final in 2011.

Carli tried to convince herself that was not a crush at all. However, spending a lot of time together during the preparation for London Olympics weakened the convincement a lot.

Carli eventually gave up, and brought up her feeling as casually as she could to Hope at some point.

Hope seemed to be not surprised, "Well, believe it or not, pretty much everyone in the team had sort of crush on Abs. We just take it differently."

"Umm, so.. you did." Carli seemed to interpret Hope’s response from a completely different angle.

"Don't ever try to switch the target though, it's you, Carli Lloyd, came to me for advice." Hope rolled her eyes.

Looking at Hope's pretend-to-be-bitch face, Carli laughed and ended the special conversation by talking about the game the next day, making Hope roll her eyes again.

When Carli finally decided to give Abby some hints, she accidentally saw Alex place a soft kiss on the corner of Abby's mouth, at the corner of the locker room, as she returned from the bus to pick back up some of her stuff that she accidentally left behind. It was another longest night for Carli since the 2011 World Cup final, and she took the longest and coldest ice-bath that she could ever stand.

 

Abby and Alex didn’t hide their relationship to the team shortly after the start of the Olympics Victory Tour, while they did keep it very low key in public.

When Abby and Alex walked in for team dinner hand in hand for the very first time, Hope looked at Carli.

"I feel really happy for them." Carli said, looking at the pair, not at Hope’s eyes.

"Then why you look like a beaten puppy?" Hope whispered.

"I'm not, Hope." Carli shook her head, "I'm not a puppy, I'm a polar bear." Because she did survive from the most challenging ice-bath.

“Still beaten.”

“Whatever. I’m going to get some food.” Carli stood up from her seat across to Hope’s. Sometimes, Hope was just too straightforward.

 

The Dynamic Duo scored way more goals on field.

As Alex’s best friend in team, Kelley would not waste the opportunity of making fun of the love birds.

“Lex, remember this?” Pulling out the photo captured after Abby’s goal in London, Kelley laughed, “I thought I was the one who experienced the first base with Abby, but you completed the home run! Very impressive!”

"Shut up, Kelley!"

“I would shut up later, but how did it feel?” Kelley unlocked the door as soon as she finished the question.

“Oh my god, get out of the room, KO!” Saying that, Alex threw a pillow to Kelley, who quickly sneaked behind the door before the pillow hit her face, leaving with the loud laughters down the entire hallway.

And Tobin, another best friend of Alex in team, already fell over on her own bed, “I bet Abby has scored more, in bed.”

Within no more than three seconds, the rest of pillows on Alex’s bed, gone.

 

Alex once talked about how matching their initials looked like: A.M. and A.W., when they were enjoying the beautiful sunset in Portugal, after winning the Algarve Cup. The final was such a big win for U.S., as same as that in CONCACAF, from when on the two families sat together during their games.  

"If your last name started with V, we can endorse Volkswagen then." Abby joked when placing her arms around Alex's waist, earning an elbow from Alex.

But Alex did like such an endorsement idea, "Brilliant, Abs."

"I haven't thought about the matching before, so you are the brilliant one, Lex."

Resting her head onto Abby's shoulder, Alex said, "I do have brilliant thoughts though. I thought about playing with the best player wearing WAMBACH on the back, and I make it. I thought about kissing the most attractive forward, and now I can do it pretty much anytime I want to. So I start to wonder when I could write my initials as A.W. as well?" Alex turned around to face Abby, with a very breathtaking smile on her face.

"Wow, are you proposing to me?" The blue eyes turned darker.

"I'm just wondering." Alex smirked.

"I would love to be the only one to ride on the one and only Baby Horse for the rest of our lives." Before getting another elbow from Alex, Abby continued, "And seriously, it would be my great honor that we could tape our fingers for the same pair of wedding bands when we play. I thought I would be the one asking, when I also have the World Cup trophy in hand, to add in the best wedding I could ever imagine, with the best person I’ve ever met."

"Umm, around 25 months from now, sounds a good timeframe. And hopefully I could keep up with you a little bit more by then." Alex knew how much a World Cup trophy meant to Abby, to herself as well.

"How about 25 more international goals by then? You'd better catch me sooner than I caught Mia," Abby added, "seeing two Wambachs standing next to each other on the record board would make me over the moon." Abby leaned in to connect their lips, and deepened the kiss passionately.

And at that time, they didn't see anything that would stop their marriage.

 

 


	5. With All My Heart, I Mean Every Word

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title credit to "Beautiful in White" by Westlife
> 
> Here Abby and Sarah got married in 2014, instead of 2013.

Carli didn’t make to Abby and Sarah’s wedding. She was glad that she did have another appointment at that time. It was not like she couldn’t get over it. She just felt she would burst into tears if she attended. Although it would be the tears of joy, seeing the one she cared a lot to be so happy, Carli still didn't want to let out her emotions in that way, on that occasion. She wrote a long letter to Abby instead. She told Abby she had so enjoyed every minute she played with such a great forward that she even wished she could play for Gators when in college, as well as how much she cared about Abby both on and off the field, and so on. However, she never told Abby that it was love.

Love is a heavy word.

Plus, eight months later, they would be playing for the World Cup, striving for bringing back the trophy. Carli still felt she owed Abby a World Champion.

 

The Special Trio settled down by the time Carli announced her engagement in the March of 2015. Both Abby and Alex taped their fingers when they played, but not for the same pair of wedding bands they once planned for. They were not lovers anymore, but they had special places reserved for each other at the bottom of their hearts. They just couldn't make their shared path long enough to the marriage, with a World Cup trophy.

 

Before heading to Canada, meeting Ed Sheeran in New York during their send-off reminded Alex some of the best part of Abby.

Abby plays guitar.

When they were together, Abby always played guitar to sing her sleep, almost every night when they slept next to each other.

Alex had no doubt that Abby could chase away all the nightmares, by holding her close, with all the love and care.

"So dim that spotlight, tell me things like I can’t take my eyes off of you..." Abby just learned a new wake-up song for Alex.

Surrounded by Abby’s dominant arm, Alex rubbed her eyes and greeted Abby with a sleepy sound, "Good morning, Abs."   

“Good morning, Lex. How do you like this song?”

"Will it be even better with guitar?" Alex cuddled closer, placing a kiss on Abby’s chest.

"I haven't tried it with guitar yet. I will look up the chords right away if you really like it."

"I guess the song is for you. Read the lyrics!" Alex pointed out with a raised eyebrow, "All the girls in the front row scream your name, Abby Wambach.”

"It fits you too! You’re my superstar. That’s why I would like to sing this for you, although I’m not a good singer." Abby pouted and leaned in to kiss Alex's forehead.

In order to make her argument more convincing, Alex decided to tell Abby a secret,

"Well, you know, umm, I have your poster on my wall."

"Good taste, Lex!" Abby cheered really loud, earning a slap on her arm.

"I knew I would regret right after I told you." Alex complained.

"Did I look good though?" Abby teased.

"You could figure it out when you come to my house." Before her mind was shut off by Abby’s kisses and touches for the third round in the past 12 hours, Alex answered.

The very best part of Abby that only Alex could see and had seen.

 

 

"Hey Lex, how was the flight?" Giving Alex a hug at the baggage claim, Kelley didn’t hide her worries.

"Not bad, Kell, no worries." Alex tried to give a "I’m fine" smile, but apparently failed in Kelley’s eyes.

"You don’t have to attend. No one will say anything if you could not make it." Kelley was shocked when Alex told her about their separation, and was much more shocked when Alex said she would attend the wedding of Abby and Sarah.

"She knows me. She knows I would like to see her happy. She knows I would invite her to my wedding too." Alex picked up her baggage, grabbed Kelley’s arm as they walking towards the gate, where Sydney was waiting.

"I couldn’t pick out the best dress that I should wear tomorrow, so I’ve brought them all. You and Syd will have to help me out.” Alex said.

Alex didn’t count how long it took for her to stop crying in Abby’s arms that night when they reached the agreement of their separation.

Abby didn’t either.

That moment of heartbreaking lasted way much longer than last time, the night back to the 2011 World Cup final.

There was a special page in Alex's diary, which she stopped writing after that night.

On that page, there was the most beautiful paragraph that Alex had ever written:

"In any mature relationship, especially in the marriage, two of us are supposed to meet each other halfway, even in the toughest situations. Today, I’m so happy that we could meet right here, the start of our shared journey. Together we will create a home for us, a life we can cherish, and the memories in which we stand side by side. There may be several tough times ahead, and we may even wanna quit sometimes, but I promise you, no matter how hard it is, I will always meet you halfway at least, till I can reach you. You’re the best person I have ever known, and I will always respect you, protect you, love you, and never let you go.”

That was part of the wedding vow that Alex prepared, although Abby would never know.

  


During the first team meal at hotel in Canada, the team celebrated Abby’s birthday.

“Here, smell it, it smells so good.” Abby handed a piece of cake to Ashlyn.

“You gonna throw it on my face.” Ashlyn responded without a second thought, earning a grin from Abby.

The grin just looked so familiar for Alex, as the one from the same person on her birthday two years ago, when she figured out her birthday present from Abby.

“I’ve known you so well, Abs. Don’t even try to hide anything from me.” Alex said it proudly.

“But I didn’t say you would have only one birthday gift from me.” Abby managed to stop Alex’s showing off by pulling out the engagement ring from her pocket.  

“The unwritten future is somehow scary when we doubt there might be no one else we could rely on. However, from this day forward, I, Abby Wambach, would like you, Alex Morgan, to believe that there will always be a person in your life who wants you in hers so much, a person who accepts you for who you are, a person who would do anything to see you smile and loves you no matter what. The person is me, and that’s my promise to you, Lex.”

 

When broadcasting the game against China, the Fox Sports commentator said Carli Lloyd was the second best header in the team. Everyone knows Abby is the best header, and Carli has been looking up to Abby in this way too.

The pre-game speech before second half was as intense as always, with Abby in the center.

“In the first ten minutes, we get a f**king goal!”

Six minutes later, Carli Lloyd obliged.

Before the 2015 World Cup final against Japan, the Special Trio attended the press conference together.

“The Human Tree”. “The Polar Bear”. “The Baby Horse”.

Abby arrived a little bit earlier, and she wrote their nicknames on the back of their nametags on table, earning two slaps on her arms when Carli and Alex took their seats.

“We haven’t won anything yet.” Abby said.

“I would do anything to get this job done.” Carli said.

They were going to lift the World Cup trophy.

 

"It’s not because it is a right thing to do. I wanted to do it. She deserves it."

Regardless of the crush or any special feeling towards Abby, Carli has known that woman has all her respect.

"I'm so happy and proud that she could walk out her last World Cup strong."

The hattrick in the first 16 minutes.

Carli remembered she almost burst into tears when she ran towards the bench to hug Abby and all the other teammates.

Carli remembered how happy she was when she jumped on Hope.

Carli remembered the smile of Abby when she placed the armband on Abby.

Carli remembered the night back to the 2011 World Cup final, before getting out of the bus after the heartbreaking,

Abby said to her, with confidence and sparkles in the blue eyes,

"Carli, you know what, I just have the feeling that you will be phenomenal in the next World Cup finals."

Yeah, then it came to the hattrick, matching the number of penalty kicks they missed last time.

 

When everyone else was still celebrating in the locker room, Alex sat next to Abby, at one of the corners of the locker room.

Abby knew what Alex was going to ask.

Abby put her right arm around Alex, like the night she congratulated on Alex’s first cap, “I wish I could have more time to play with the Baby Horse on field.”

"We have Rio."

Abby let out a light sigh, "Still one year to go, I haven’t made decision yet. Besides, I’m not sure…"

Alex cut her off, "I have strong faith in you", with a bright smile on the face, "That’s what you told me before."

It would never be easy for Abby to walk away from the pitch.

It would never be easy for Alex to walk out of the tunnel, knowing that the #14 or the #20 would not be standing next to her.

 

Carli walked towards them.

"We did it! We are World Champions!"

Abby grabbed both Carli and Alex and pulled them close.

"Thank you, ladies. It has always been my great honor to play with you."

Later, on the celebration party, Carli and Abby were standing next to each other on the stage to open the champagne.  

"Thank you, Carli, for everything you have done, for me." Abby said.

Carli then confirmed that Abby read her letter, thoroughly.

 

Abby put the letter from Carli in a secret place that even Sarah would never know.

Abby sometimes almost forgot the password to open the locker.

Inside the locker, there was a red square box.

Abby put the letter next to it. She hadn’t opened the box for such a long time.

The wedding bands she prepared for Alex and herself.

"From A.W. to A.W." The phrase engraved on the inner side.

 

 

"I love you."

Before the kiss in front of the world, Abby said to Sarah, to the one she refers as her wife.

 

 


	6. Just the Way You Are

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Title credit to “Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars.

The 2015 World Cup Victory Tour, second serie.

U.S. vs Haiti.

Detroit & Birmingham.

 

Game One.

The Special Trio did the pregame warm-up together as a group.  
Very good dynamic among them.  
Just like sometimes in the games, Carli serves as the supportive midfielder who conduct great passes to Alex and Abby directly.  
However, Carli could still sense the emotional difference of Abby.  
Abby was happier the day before.  
To be accurate, Abby seemed not to be as extremely happy as expected after the World Cup win that she had been wanted for so long. Carli has got this feeling ever since the Victory Tour started. However, Carli didn’t say anything about it, or ask Abby about anything. Carli respects that Abby has been very private about her personal life outside of soccer. Although she cares Abby both on and off the field, Carli would rather wait for Abby to tell her something than to ask Abby directly.

Carli has been handling it in that way.

Hope once pointed out to Carli during their midnight conversations when roomed together, “You want to see her happy, so badly, regardless of being with you or without you. So, you would rather know nothing about her unhappiness. Otherwise, you might lose all your chill.”

“Hope, I really don’t know. I even cannot define the feeling.”

“Well, just so you know, polar bear takes ice-baths as routines, but not as excuses.” Hope was still mad that Carli almost hurt herself by taking that longest and coldest ice-bath.

Carli didn’t say another word.

That conversation happened way before this World Cup Victory Tour.

 

The team didn’t score that much as they expected.  
Alex’s shots were so close, but still couldn’t make the ball in net.

 

Alex hasn't seen Sarah for a while. It even feels like way much longer than two months since their last gathering during the World Cup.  
When Abby said she had a wonderful lunch time with Sarah before their open practice at Detroit, Alex felt a little bit surprised yet very happy for them.  
"Hey Ash, Sarah flew in, are you and Ali going to have a double date with Abs and Sarah?" Alex asked when she returned to the room she shared with Ashlyn.

"We may wait till after the game in Birmingham. Sarah said she would be there too."

"Oh, that sounds great!" Saying that, Alex grabbed her clothes for changing, "Give me a minute, Ash, I'm going downstairs with you for team dinner."

"Sure, as always!"

As always, when they are roomed together, Ashlyn will always wait for Alex for team dinners, except when Alex was dating Abby.

 

Memories back to that February.  
Valentine's Day was approaching. Adding to those who were married and in stable relationships, the two pairs who just announced their relationships made the entire team feel more excited than before. The camp was not tired or torturing at all, it was like full of love and romance.  
Finally that day came, and Pia was nice enough to announce a day-off to the team, and wished  them a lovely Valentine's Eve and Day.

Abby stormed in the room that Alex shared with Ashlyn, with a handful of roses that were like coming out of nowhere.

"Oh Geez!" Ashlyn felt really attacked by the forward, "Abby, would you please slow down when you get in my room? You don't need to do diving headers here." Ashlyn would not admit that she also felt being attacked by how romantic Abby could be.

"Oops, I sincerely apologize that I almost knocked you down," Abby looked around the room, "I just wanna wait for Alex here instead of at the lobby. Umm, but seems like she is not here right now."

Ashlyn shook her head, "Alex just went to Syd's room, maybe asking for dressing advice."

"She actually has no need to do so. You know, she looks good in all her outfits, and I'm not biased at all." Abby being Abby, expressed her thoughts out loud.

Ashlyn rolled her eyes, "Abs, serious? You're just so in love with Alex! I think I need to take a break from you love birds."

"Hahaha, come on Ash!" Abby smirked and pulled Ashlyn close with a hug, "Don't be so frustrated because Alex cannot be your valentine this year. She's mine, but you have Ali."

"Speaking of Ali, I'm going to take her out for dinner now." Giving Abby a quick slap on her arm, Ashlyn grabbed her stuff and was ready to go.

Then Alex got back to the room right on time, allowing Ashlyn to witness a bright smile she returned to Abby when she saw the roses and Abby's wide smile behind the flowers. Ashlyn would regard that smile of Alex as one of the happiest facial expressions she had ever seen from Alex Morgan.

 

To be honest, Ashlyn agrees that the graceful way Alex has handled her relationship with Abby and Sarah would win all the respect. Ashlyn once even asked Ali what she would do if being in the same shoes.  
"I would not imagine any details at this point, because even imagining it would just be so heartbreaking." Ali answered, giving Ashlyn a big hug, as tight as possible, “Also, no one knows what exactly happened between Alex and Abby except themselves. However, no matter what, I would definitely wanna see you be happy, with me or without me. I think Alex might think in the same way."  
Ali is right, Alex shares the same philosophy as Carli.

 

63' , the whistle blew.  
Alex turned around and saw Abby was ready to sub in, with their Captain America and HAO.  
When Jill announced the substitution arrangement during halftime, Alex sighed subconsciously and looked at Abby, who returned a grin. Alex missed the time when the Dynamic Duo played on field together. Abby felt the same way.  
Alex still watched Abby in awe.  
The camera also captured Abby's smiles and put it on the main screen on field.  
Those charming and breathtaking smiles.  
Every touch Abby had with the ball during the 30 minutes that she was on the pitch was beautiful, including several amazing passes, especially those to Carli.  
Abby seemed to be more like a supportive forward, than the aggressive one she used to be.

This Lloyd is our Lloyd.  
The second hattrick of Carli Lloyd this year.

After the game, on the way back to the locker room, Carli saw Abby was still signing and taking selfies with fans.  
Every kid likes Abby, including those walk them out through the tunnel.  
Carli thought of that kid refused to hold her hand, and laughed at herself a little bit.  
Well, Abby should be no problem with that.  
Abby will eventually make it to the coaching staff for the national team, kids will still see her on the field. Maybe at that time, Sarah will bring their own kids too.  
“Oh how sweet is that!” Carli smiled after visualizing it. She knew that Hope was right, she just wanted to see Abby happy.  
She just wanted to see the smiles and sparkles from the blue eyes.

 

Game Two.

Tobin was honored for her 100th cap. However, due to the minor ankle issue, she was not playing.  
Abby didn't play either.  
Alex got very determined to score a goal for Tobin, asking to stay on field for the second half.  
Abby was not surprised. She would do the same for Tobin if she was playing on the field.  
Abby felt like she could never thank Tobin enough, for being not only a skillful footballer, a great teammate, but also such a sweet buddy, especially during the tough time that right after the separation, when Alex needed the comfort most.    
 

Tobin was also the first teammate to figure out the relationship of Alex and Abby, due to the roomie advantage.

"Hey Tobs, wait for me for team dinner! I will be ready real quick!" Alex rushed to the bathroom with clothes in hands.

"Alright alright, easy, Baby Horse, no rush at all." Tobin laughed, "Pia is not going to kill you for being late."

"Damn it!" Alex sounded like so done with herself, "I grabbed two tops! Tobs, would you please pull out a pair of pants for me from my bag?"

"Sure," Tobin shook her head, and dug in Alex's bag, "Any preference of color?"

"Nope!"

"Here you go." Handing the pants to Alex, Tobin did find something more than expected.

"Why you're smiling like this?" Facing the mirror, Alex was confused while fixing her ponytail.

Tobin pulled out several pieces of paper from behind, turning the wide smile to a smirk: "So, Alex Morgan, how long have you been playing guitar? I don't think Pinoe or Pia is teaching anyone."

"Oh my god, Tobin! Give me back the chords scripts!" Alex blushed.

"Let me see, 'Just the Way You Are', umm, not a new one, but not a bad taste though. Who is the lucky but kinda old-fashion one?" Tobin started her investigation, "And you bring it to the camp, so... Wow! Who is the lucky one in our team?"

"Shut up, Heath!" Alex turned bright red from head to toe.

And then Alex's phone vibrated, indicating a message came in.

"I guess I would have to figure it out by myself!" Tobin stormed to grab Alex's phone from the desk.

As soon as she read the short message showed in notification, Tobin dropped her jaw.

"Hey babe, will see you at dinner, miss you already. -- Abs"

"Oh My God! Oh My Baby Horse! Is it this Abs our Abby Wambach?! And she calls you babe?!" Tobin almost lost all her chill, "What a pleasant surprise for the start of the camp! Oh I need to tell Kell right now! Oh does Kell know? Who else knows it? And when you and Abs started?"

Alex let out a shy sigh, grabbing Tobin's shoulders to calm this exciting woman down, "Hey Tobs, there's no way for me to provide complete answers if you don't ask only one question at a time."

Yep, the lucky one was Abby kinda-old-fashion Wambach. Abby left her chords scripts when she visited Alex before the camp.

 

In this game, Alex got fouled for several times.  
Carli took the penalty kick earned from Alex and checked on Alex again after scoring.  
Hope didn't witness the toughest ice-bath that Carli took at that time, but she had witnessed how Carli cared more about Alex since Alex was with Abby.  
Being Abby and Alex’s good friend and also Carli’s bestie at the same time, Hope felt like she really could not take a stand, especially given the situation that Carli had never told Abby about her crush or other special feeling. However, Hope sometimes did want to stop Carli, stop her from being so tremendous friendly to Alex because of Abby.

“Hey Carli, are you okay? I mean, the ‘really okay’ okay.”

“Yeah, why? What’s the matter, Hope?” As said, love is a heavy word. It is also so complicated that Carli had no way to control.

“Well, I just wanna make sure that you are really okay. Don’t hesitate to come to me whenever you need, about anything.” Hope added, “And just so you know, if I would need to choose my dream spouse in a gay marriage, I would go, Carli Lloyd.”

“Wow, what a compliment! I really appreciate it, Hope.” Carli knew what Hope was trying to do, if it could be called as a comforting.

 

Carli joined Abby for completing 5 hat tricks in international games after Game Two against Haiti.  
Alex did score for Tobin.  
Abby was so happy.  
Watching Alex run to and jump on Tobin just reminded Abby when Tobin ran straight to her after scoring last time.

That was a cold winter day, Abby was sitting behind the other subs who were standing.  
When Tobin scored and then ran to the bench, directly to Abby’s direction, Abby stood up real quick and moved forward to catch her lovely buddy.  
That was the winter before the romantic February.

 

Alex did look at Abby when Tobin caught her at the sideline.  
Alex just thought about when it would come to the game that she would be so determined to score for Abby, she would definitely jump on Abby without hesitation after her goal, knowing Abby would always catch her.  
Abby promised to be her forever human tree.

 

During this Victory Tour, there is a song played in stadium at the end of some games, named "Just the Way You Are."  
Very few of them knew the story behind.  
Very few of them noticed that Alex didn't tape her ring finger in these two games.


	7. When I Put the S on My Chest for You, You’ll Know How A Superhero Learns to Fly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title credit to: Superheroes by The Script

The 2015 World Cup Victory Tour

U.S. vs Costa Rica

Pittsburgh & Chattanooga

Game One.

Pregame warmup.

Very few of them noticed that Abby almost forgot to tape her ring finger.

She ran back to the locker room during the warmup.

Taping the ring finger always makes her feel secured, by carrying those people she loves onto the field.

The World Champions were wearing their third star and the FIFA Champions badge for the very first time in this game.

This was also the game that Abby would earn her 250th cap.

54', Abby was waiting to step onto the field.

The crowd screamed her name.

Carli casually ran towards the sideline.

Due to their different positions, Abby and Carli didn’t sub in for each other very often.

Given the fact that the Victory Tour would not be as intense as other tournaments, this was one of the very few time that Carli could take the opportunity to pay longer attention to the substitution board held by the assistant referee, seeing #10 next to #20.

Waiting for Carli to approach to the sideline, Abby suddenly thought of the game they played against Colombia in this World Cup.

 

When Carli was about to take the penalty kick earned by Pinoe, Abby was standing a little bit far behind other teammates.

However, after Carli scored, Abby turned out to be the first one to catch her.

Carli always got the job done, for the team, for her teammates.

Because Abby missed the first penalty kick, Carli felt she was even more determined to score when she was needed to take the second one.

For Abby.

Carli knew how painful it was when herself missed the penalty kick last time.

After securing the 2-0 lead, Carli ran to Abby directly, and jumped on her.

“She’s always coming up to me and encouraging me, giving me the confidence and I’ll be straight up with her and say, ‘Look, Abby, this has gotta be better.’ And she’s like sure. And vice versa.” Carli said, smiling.

Abby agreed.

 

Abby was so happy when seeing her teammates score.

55', Kling scored and waved the terrible towel.

59', HAO scored her second goal.

63', Abby assisted, with her header.

HAO did a nice job of finding Abby's head, and Engen successfully put the ball in net.

68', Press got her hat-trick.

Abby was so happy that she could have these girls to celebrate with, especially on the field.

Regarding the celebration off the field, she definitely remembered the ESPY's, the latest celebration after their World Cup victory.

Almost everyone attended the ESPY’s, expecting the best team award.

The team deserves of the award and they won it with no doubt.

Being so gentle-woman, Abby held Hope’s hand to get on the stage.

Thinking of Carli was also in a long dress, Abby turned back and walked down a couple of steps and then looked at Carli.

Returning a grin to Abby, Carli motioned Abby to just move on to the stage for the award.

Hope was always glad to see Abby care about Carli. As a team leader and veteran player, with the biggest heart as described by Hope, Abby does care about her friends and teammates. Hope just wants to see Abby care Carli more, in some unique or special ways. In this case, Hope admits that she actually takes a stand.

Hope posted a blog entry for Abby on Abby's birthday, the day they arrived in Canada, for the 2015 World Cup.

She described Abby as her friend, as their leader, in the most beautiful way.

Abby hadn’t have the chance to read Hope’s blog entry until the day they arrived in Vancouver, preparing for the 2015 World Cup final.

Abby got emotional after reading Hope’s words.

Actually, as the final approached, Abby got very emotional by seeing the determinations in her teammates eyes, feeling the so much love and respect from their hearts, and hearing what they have kept saying was all about winning the world cup for her.

"She deserves this, we need to do this for her." Their Captain of America said in the interview.

"She's so deserving of a World Cup, I wanna do everything I can to make sure she gets it." Alex said in the interview.

"I will get the turf burn every inch of my body, if I can do this for her and for this team." Pinoe said in the interview.

And then, it came the third star, with all their names on it.

When the team lined up for the FIFA World Champions photo, Abby passed the trophy to Hope, who was standing at the center of the front row. The #1 of the team, the best goalkeeper in the world.

Hope embraced the trophy with a grin.

Hope knew that's one of the ways that Abby showed her appreciation to their friendship.

Hope has known Abs so well.

At the center of the front row, Alex was next to Hope.

On the right hand side with the coaching staff, Carli was next to Abby.

Abby wouldn't know the first game of this Victory Tour could make her emotional until she realized that she had thought a lot, from the minute she waited for Carli at the sideline, till the end of the game.

Abby thought about Rio, the big tournament right around the corner.

The Olympics.

She remembered when they were standing at the top of the podium with the gold medals.

She remembered the team photo they took after the win in London, in which the Special Trio were standing together, with Carli on her left, Alex on her right.

Abby wanted to celebrate with all her girls, again.

**  
  
**

 

Game Two.

Lori Chalupny, who announced her retirement recently was honored as the captain in this game.

Abby was in the starting lineup.

She was also the first one from the team to hug Lori’s family.

Farewell is also a heavy word.

Abby missed some opportunities during the first 15 minutes.

The camera captured her grin returned to Carli for the cross.

She shook her head as well.

In less than 3 minutes, Carli scored the free kick, her 70th international goals.

“Carli’s got this team.” Right after their World Cup victory, Abby once said so.  

The game was paused due to lightning strikes.

The majority of the team headed back to the locker room.

Tobin and Alex were sharing a sandwich.

Carli and Hope were taking the selfie outside of the room.

Looking at the tweets sent out by the team account,

Hope laughed, “Oh look at Abs, we’ve got one more pouty puppy.”

"Hope, seriously, is Abs okay?"

"She hasn't come to me for anything yet, but if you really wanna know, I can check it out for you." Hope smirked.

"Shut up, Hope!" Carli blushed a little bit.

Hope was just kidding; even she would check out for Carli, she probably would not tell Carli the truth.

After the separation with Alex, Abby did come to Hope.

Not at their routine breakfast, but at a beach, with sunrise.

“I thought you like watching sunset more.” Hope sat next to Abby, handing her a black coffee and a sandwich that she bought on her way.

“But people say the sunrise could bring hope. They are right,” Abby continued, “here you are.”

“Well, I guess you can be a poet, not only a forward.” Hope put her arm around Abby.

They didn’t say anything for awhile, just watched the sun came above the horizon.  

“On the field, I’d rather have no other person in goal behind me.” Abby broke the silence, “Off the field, I’m blessed to also have you behind me. You’ve got my back. Thank you, Hope.”

Hope just pulled Abby close, letting her shoulder carry all the tears from the strong forward.

Hope then swore that she would never let Carli know how vulnerable Abby was at that time.  

**  
  
**

It stormed, it poured, but the warriors stayed strong.

17', Abby scored, assisted by Chalupny, after missing her first attempt of heading the cross from Carli.

Kelley jumped on Abby, as the squirrel always looking for the human tree for the celebration ride.

2 minutes later, Carli scored, and almost got her hat-trick later.

22', flying down the wing to receive the pass from Carli, Abby then served a cross to assist HAO to finish it with a header.

"You with the cross, me with the header? That's a new one!" A typical HAO’s reaction.

55‘, Alex stepped on the pitch to sub in for Abby, and then scored with her chest 25 minutes later.

Abby got her 184th international goal in this game. She couldn't thank her teammates enough, not only for making her such a great player on the field.

Soccer is much more than the skills or strengths. It is about the people that are teamed together, practice together, walk out the tunnel together, play together, and celebrate together. Those people are also the ones to be trusted enough to share all the ups and downs, the success, the challenges, and even failures.

Both on and off the field.

No matter what, whenever the team needs, whenever her teammates need, she will be there.

No matter how hard it will be.

That's the promise from Abby Wambach.

**Forever.**


	8. No What-ifs, I'll Always be Your Knight in Shining Armor

The 2015 World Cup Victory Tour

U.S. v.s. Brazil

Game One.  
In Seattle, Hope’s hometown. 

Playing against Brazil will always remind the team of that epic match, the 2011 World Cup quarterfinal.  
The great start for the team, the ball traveled as the free kick from Cheney to Captain America, and then as the long pass to Abby, and then as the cross from Boxxy, as the own goal of the Brazilian.  
The increased intensity when Buehler was sent off by the red card.  
The brilliant save of Hope denied by the referee.  
The feel-like-forever 5 seconds when Carli carried the ball in midfield, beating 3 Brazilian defenders.  
The perfect cross from Pinoe.  
The unbelievable header from Abby.  
The clean & neat penalty shots finished by Boxxy, Carli, Abby, and Pinoe.  
The breathtaking save of Hope that denied Brazilians’ last chance.  
The last penalty shot Ali put into the net.  
The every unforgettable and emotional moment the team experienced together that night.

What if that quarterfinal would be the final of 2011 World Cup?  
That must be an epic victory in World Cup championship history.  
The team would have earned the third star earlier, in such an incredible way.  
Those amazing women would have been called the 11ers.  
The 15ers would be the names attached with the fourth stars.  
Anyway, they finally earned the third star this year.  
Carli couldn’t be happier, hoisting the World Cup trophy with her teammates and friends, those special persons that she cares a lot.  
Carli is not that stone cold.  
There are two people in the team that could always turn the stone cold Carli Lloyd to a cute & soft polar bear. Everyone knows one of them is the angry & mean goalkeeper on field; the other one, very few people know though, is the intense & loud forward on field.

 

Carli once roomed with Abby when they were preparing for the London Olympics.  
That was when Carli almost could not take it.  
That was when Hope figured out why Carli seemed to be distracted a little bit during the Olympics qualifying.  
“Hope, seriously, if I got to room with Abby during the Olympics, you must switch with me or Abby. Otherwise, I cannot guarantee my performance on field.” Sitting next to Hope at breakfast, Carli started the conversation, embarrassedly.  
“Let me guess what bothers you that much.” Sipping her coffee, Hope continued, halfheartedly, “I know Abs snores. Too loud this time?”  
Carli almost choked, “You are so funny, Hope.”  
“I know I am.” Hope shrugged and looked back to the newspapers.  
Carli could only rolled her eyes and murmured, “If only it could be that simple though.”  
“Alright, alright, what happened, seriously?”  
Hope tried her best to hold her composure, but couldn’t help cracking up right after Carli replied.  
Carli blamed that Abby’s smiles had magic, seriously.  
Hope was really about to say that it was actually not a big deal, if Carli had seen Abby licking her teeth after brushing them in the morning.

A few months later, during the Algarve Cup, Carli stopped by at Hope’s room, before Hope went to bed, while Ali was not back to the room yet.  
“Had a good time or bad time last night?” Hope raised an eyebrow.  
The night before, the team had a movie night at Abby and Mittsy’s room, but Hope couldn’t make it due to some personal stuff. Because Hope also asked for absenteeism for the training the next day, Carli hadn’t got a chance to talk with her.  
“Long story short.” Carli spoke really fast and even sounded like she was in a panic, making Hope want to video the entire scene, “I somehow fell asleep on the couch, and then Abby was like coming out of nowhere to put a blanket on me and asked me whether I needed to get in Mittsy’s or her bed for a nap.”  
“Abby is a considerate person, you shouldn’t be too surprised though.” Hope put away her book and felt like what Carli was going to say would be a very good bedtime story.    
“Hope, believe it or not, what surprised me was that when she talked to me, I clearly felt my heart skipped a beat or two, or even more.” After a few seconds of silence, Carli decided not to keep it bottled inside.  
“Oh, well~~” Hope didn’t expect the bedtime story to be like this though.  
“To be honest, I have no clue what I should do because I couldn’t see where this feeling would take me to.” Carli sat on the edge of Hope’s bed, sighed.  
“You would definitely know how to handle it, soon or later.” Hope moved to sit next to Carli.  
“What if I don’t?”

“Then you just let yourself to follow your heart.” Certainly Hope didn’t reply at the time. It was not her style at all to encourage someone to fall in love, especially when herself didn’t even believe in love that much.  
There’s a lot of “what if” moments in life. Sometimes we get over it really quickly, sometimes we may feel that we would probably regret it for the rest of our lives.  
Hope seldom thought about the “what if” options. In her philosophy, once decision is made, there’s no necessary to regret. Strong people will get over the things, and then keep moving on.  
However, regarding that question Carli asked, Hope wish she could provide the answer she was supposed to. Over the years in the national team, Hope’s philosophy has been changed, especially since Carli and Abby walked in her life, as the friends who are even more closer than she expected.  
Hope thought about what if she encouraged Carli to get in Abby's heart when they were both playing for the Flash, when Abby was back to single.  
Hope thought about what if she told Carli that Abby actually asked about whether Carli had a crush on her.

  

Can’t believe that it has been around 4 years and 3 months since that epic match. How time flies. A lot of things have changed, both on and off the field.  
When the starting lineup was announced, Alex could only pray that she could kick off the ball with Abby again sometime during this Victory Tour.  
After the pregame huddle, Pinoe and Dunn caught up with Alex and Carli on their way to the center of the pitch.  
Patting Alex’s shoulder, Pinoe said: “Hey ladies, Crystal and I will do the kick off.”  
Carli was totally fine with it while Alex was a little bit confused until she saw Pinoe giving her a wink.     
Pinoe read her mind.  
What if Abby was started with her?  
What if the Dynamic Duo could play on top together again?  
Alex thought she wouldn’t be bothered by the “what if” of Abby starting or not. About Abby, there are more “what if” moments in her life that have left more significant impacts.  
What if she insisted not to reach the agreement of separation?  
What if Abby didn’t surprise her by proposing on her birthday?  
What if she didn't ask Abby out?  
What if she didn’t develop a crush on Abby?  
What if Abby wasn’t that approachable or nice to her?  
What if she wasn’t called up to the camp?

Everything started from a rainy day, during the camp preparing for London Olympics qualifying.  
Fitness training in rain was not new to the team, but Dawn decided to add a mini flag football tryout for the last hour of training. Whether the additional session meant to either increase or decrease the level of intensity, it didn’t really matter. Basically, Pia and Dawn would just like to let the players have some fun. They had no idea that it would really add so much more fun to the team later, just like the butterfly effects.  
As assigned by Dawn, Abby led the veterans’ team, while Alex joined the opponent team leading by the New Kids.    
Walking by Alex who was making her ponytail to a bun, Abby smirked, “The pony without a ponytail is not the same baby horse.”  
“Still very competitive.” Alex rolled her eyes and quickly slapped on Abby’s lower back.  
“Did Dawn tell you that the losers would need to run extra 5 miles before heading back to hotel?”  
“I will make sure you get hydrated then.” Being a little competitive might be understatement for Alex.

No one was surprised to see the seriousness of Abby’s facial expression once Dawn blew the whistle.  
However, Alex was surprised to realize that she was staring at Abby, blushed, when Abby leaned forward and looked her square in the eye. She was so close to Abby that she could even see the raindrops pour down Abby’s face.  
Abby and Alex were pushing and pulling each other, when Carli was holding a smaller soccer ball to break through the defense line formed by the New Kids.  
Thanks to her tall and muscular frame, the loud forward always has physical advantage.    
Abby took Alex down, effortlessly; and then ran away, smiling.  
Alex had no earthly idea what was going on, until she realized that she was turned over onto the grass with her bun becoming undone, until she heard the veterans were laughing hysterically, until she was pulled up by Carli, until she saw Tobin and Lauren shaking their heads but clapping for Abby. And then Alex saw the tall forward who had a cheeky smile was trying to hide her 5’11 body behind Lauren.    
The rest was history.  
Eight months later, when the team was playing against Ireland, after Alex scored in the first minute of the game, Abby tackled Alex down again, as their new goal celebration, as a couple.

  **  
**

The U.S. down to 0-1 in the first 4 minutes.  
Everyone in the Team USA was striving to get an equalizer, and then to lead the game.  
Amazing crosses from Dunn, and what a header from Alex. The header made Carli think about Abby for some reason. Apparently, Alex was not the only one who missed Abby playing on top.  
Carli seemed not to be on her game during the first half, not to mention that she got fouled for several times.  
If Abby was on the field, she would probably yell at the referee like “Referee! Did you see that?”, as Becky performed.

Alex didn’t hide her frustration.  
The Brazilians had been fuzzy during the entire game.  
The assistant referee must have a sore arm for that many calls of offside.  
Alex missed some opportunities of sending the ball in net.  
For example, the volley she conducted from receiving the cross from Carli. 

The second when the halftime whistle blew, Abby stood up right away from the bench and ran into the field, towards Alex.  
Alex has to admit that, from the day one that she had a crush on Abby, Abby’s grin can always warm her heart, no matter how hard the situation could be, even though they are apart.

The Department of Defense of the USWNT had blocked the Brazilians till the last minute of the game.  
What made it even better was that Kling took the game on her shoulders, flying down the right wing, and then served a perfect cross when it was needed most, at the 85th minute.  
Carli scored, and Hope smiled widely.

With 195 caps, Boxxy wore her husband’s last name on her back, and wore the captain’s armband on her arm.  
Her last game as a member of the USWNT, the team didn’t lose.  
Not only for Boxxy particularly, but also for every single member in the team.  
They’ve got each other’s back, day in and day out.  
Later in the locker room, Carli said to Hope: “I would never let you lose in your hometown.”  
In the opposite corner of the locker room, Abby said to Alex : “There’s only one thing that I might ever request you, smile more on the field.”  
It’s not about enjoying the game or something related to the philosophy of being optimistic.  
Abby just simply missed Alex’s smiles on the field.  
Abby wants to see Alex happy, anytime, anywhere.  
Whenever seeing Alex’s biggest smiles on and off the field since they were together, Abby thought she owed Dawn a huge thanks.  
This has never changed, even though they are apart.

Game Two.  
In Orlando, Ashlyn’s hometown.

Lori, with 105 caps and 10 goals, and Lauren, with 132 caps and 24 goals, played their last game for team USA.  
“Do it for Chups! Do it for Cheney!” In the huddle, Abby made her pregame speech simple, but strong.  
Everyone on field had pretty solid performance.  
From the long serve from Hope, to the great pass from Tobin, and then the Baby Horse beat the Brazilian backline with her remarkable speed, skills, and composure.  
Alex almost got her second goal later, after Ali sent in a great cross to the box.  
Hope made a mental note to treat Becky a nice dinner, when the Defender of the Year cleaned the ball off the goal line. Becky’s facial expression was priceless, too.  
Hope also thought about kissing the crossbar, twice.

During the first 56 minutes of this game, Horan was playing at Carli’s position.  
Spending a short time with the 15ers, Horan was still finding her way.  
Receiving the great serve from Kling, Horan finally got the header, which assisted the Golden Boot winner of the NWSL to finish the goal nicely. Very well Dunn!  
Dunn thought about the time when Abby and Boxxy took her and Horan out for a great dinner, two and half years ago. At the time, she was playing as a defender, wearing the #6, while Abby was mentoring Horan during her first tournament with the senior team.

In the locker room before the game, Abby and Boxxy made fun of Horan and Alex, for their matching pink pre-wraps as well as #13 and #31. Abby looks forward to seeing the on field chemistry between these two, if Jill would put them as the new duo on top.

However, the on-field chemistry always takes time.  
In some unique cases, time doesn’t matter.  
It just takes one click.  
No one knows it better than Alex.  
“I need Alex to play well, and Alex needs me to play well, as long as we wanna be the Dynamic Duo that stand at the top of the podium.” Alex remembered Abby once said so.  
She only turned the accompanying off-field chemistry on for Abby.

Around the 20th minutes, Lori stepped off the field.  
Around the 56th minutes, Lauren passed the armband to Carli.  
The half-time scores were leveled up by McCaffrey’s first international goal in her debut.  
USA 3, Brazil 1.  
Goals for each retiring player, and the hometown hero.

After the game, the team walked around as usual to appreciate fans.  
Alex and Sydney were waving to the fans, with bright smiles.  
Seeing Abby greeting and chatting with fans along the sideline, what came across Sydney’s mind was the scene of walking with Alex like this, back to the night they were playing against Korea Republic, when Abby was just two goals away from breaking Mia’s record.

"Hey Lex," pulling Alex closer, Sydney smiled widely. She started in this game, assisted Mewis’ goal, and the team got the W, beating Korea Republic 4-1.  
"Hey Syd!" Putting her dominant arm around Sydney, Alex looked around the field, halfheartedly.  
"Looking for Abs, huh?" Teasing two of her best friends was really entertaining for Sydney.  
“Syd, don’t make fun of me!" Alex didn’t want to admit it at all, but failed to hide her blushing apparently.  
"She is doing media stuff over there," pointing at the other side of the stadium, Sydney continued with a smirk on her face, "and, she did send me over here to let you know that she will see you soon so you don’t need to miss her too much.”  
"Come on Syd, I don’t think Abs would actually ask you to do this." Alex rolled her eyes.  
"I couldn't believe either! I was shocked, Lex! What did you do to our beast?"  
“Um, maybe because I just earned a penalty kick for her to score?” Alex smirked, looking away at the tall forward again, proudly.  
“Whatever~~ the beast will just give you a big hug right after she meets you in the locker room."  
“The beast is actually a teddy bear.”  
“Alex Morgan, STOP~~”

Sydney didn’t bring her sandwich during this VT game. Last VT game, when they were playing against Haiti, Sydney enjoyed a sandwich at the bench, sitting between Pinoe and Abby. Sydney also posted a photo on her Instagram later, claiming she tried to share the sandwich but neither Abby nor Pinoe would like to accept the offer.

It's safe to say that Abby Wambach probably will never receive a sandwich from Sydney Leroux again, and most of the team who witnessed that epic prank will agree. 

That was during the first week after the Valentine's Day that the two pairs spent with the team.  
At the team breakfast, after the coaching team announced the training schedule for the day, Mitts secretly created a prankster group chat and sent messages to Carli, Hope, Sydney, Tobin and Kelley, planning to prank the two pairs.  
“The lovebirds all have some extra training today! Don’t miss the golden opportunity!” --- Mitts.  
“Tell us the plan, prank queen.” --- Sydney.  
Carli’s first reaction was to quit the group, but Hope managed to convince her that seeing Abby’s angry face would be so worthy.  
The pranksters carefully “redecorate” some of the sandwiches provided that day at team lunch. Among the eight sandwiches that were put on a separate table for the two pairs, half were the breads with slices of chicken breast and wasabi mixed with avocado sauce, while the other half were the cheeseburgers with some ketchup.  
“Hope, can I just watch and keep the secret though?”  
“No no no,” overhearing the conversation, Kelley responded for Hope, “Carli, you need to contribute!”  
“And think about this,” Hope tried her best to persuade Carli, “maybe Abby won’t pick the wasabi sandwiches, so you don’t need to feel bad about it.”  
Although what Hope said was not that convincing, Carli handled the easiest part, urging the rest of the team to take those normal sandwiches.

Abby and Ashlyn walked in the dining room first.  
“Hey Abby, I know you like avocado, but do you wanna try the cheeseburgers with ketchup?” Hope asked intentionally so that their prank could be not that obvious.  
“Oh you guys made these?” Abby knew some of them only had light training sessions on that day, but still felt heart warmed by the nice gestures from her teammates and best friends.  
“Yep, we got out of our sessions earlier, and since you guys had extra training, so we decided to do something for you guys.” Syd answered for Hope since she noticed that Hope was trying so hard to hold back her weird smiles.  
“Umm, thanks a lot, but I will just save those ketchup ones for Alex. You know, Alex likes to use ketchup on everything. She should be here soon with Ali.” Abby picked up a sandwich and then turned to Ashlyn, “Do you want one?”  
“Nope~~ Ali just texted me, and we are going to the steakhouse nearby. She saw it on our way back, and really wants to try it now. I mean, now~~” Ashlyn shrugged.  
“Ali is always the boss lady, you’d better go now.” Abby laughed, playfully shoving Ashlyn to go with one hand, and then put the sandwich in her mouth with the other hand.  
All the pranksters held their breaths when Abby took the first bite.  
Including Ashlyn, who was innocent but able to escape from the prank, the rest of the team witnessed Abby got choked by almost a full mouth of wasabi.  
None of the pranksters could control their own laughters.

“Sydney Leroux! Did you just prank me twice in this camp?” Abby was mad, shouting out loud when rushing to get the water.  
Yep, the second time in that camp. The first one was when the bathroom screaming happened.  
“Sorry Abs! I just executed it, both were Mittsy’ ideas though.” Sydney moved far away enough from Abby, trying to explain innocently, but apparently failed by smiling ear to ear.  
When Alex arrived at the dining hall with Dawn, Abby was drinking the third bottle of water to wash out the wasabi, and Ashlyn was patting Abby’s back and the rest of the team was still laughing so hard.

“Hey Mitts,” Carli asked quietly on their way back to their room, “to be honest, did you ask Dawn to set up the extra training though?” 

Later in the afternoon, Alex took Abby out for a "make-up" lunch, and sent something to the team group chats.  
It was a photo of Abby pouring some ketchup onto her plate, with a “I really don’t wanna smile but I’ll smile for you” disgruntled face looking at the camera.  
Alex also added a caption: “Thanks to the pranksters, the Ketchup to My Life now does prefer ketchup more than avocado.”     
Literally two minutes later, Ash sent a photo of Ali and herself at the steakhouse, with the caption saying: “Hello pranksters too, here is the Mac to My Cheese.”  
The lovebirds’ revenge was really strong.  
The rest of the group replied in goans,  
"STOP~" -- Sydney  
“We hate you guys.” -- Kelley  
“Probably we should blame Mittsy though~~” -- Tobin  
"More extra training Dawn!" -- Mitts

The pranksters had no clue that Alex did raise a question when Abby showed up in her room with a pouted face after the ice-cold splash during her hot shower.  
“What if I got pranked though?” Comforting the frowning Abby, Alex suddenly thought about it.  
“I won’t be laughing at you, well, although maybe it’s hard to do so at that point.”  
Alex certainly gave Abby a “dare you laugh at me” look.  
“Anyway, you shouldn’t be worry about it at all,” Abby whispered against Alex’s forehead, and then looked into Alex’s eyes with a cute grin on her face, “I’ll protect you”, with an increased volume.

Abby keeps her promise.

There was actually a goal celebration, named “the Sandwich”.  
It was originally designed by Abby and Sydney, particularly for Alex, when these three forwards were on the field at the same time.

 


	9. Thank you, for being here, with me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> recap for the game one against T&T would be included in the next chapter

The first game against Trinidad & Tobago would be held in Hawaii.

The first time for the ladies to play on the 50th state. **  
**

Almost a week before the game, Abby tagged Sydney on both Twitter and Instagram, “Can't wait for Hawaii!”

The sea, the beach, the surfing, the laughter and the joy.

Abby had her wedding at Poipu Kai, while Alex had hers at Rancho Dos Pueblos.

Watch how the ocean and the sky connect, enjoy either sunrise or sunset.

Although it was not a beach one, Sydney and Dom's rooftop wedding was able to made it to Abby's top 3 favorite wedding list.

Being a bridesmaid but wearing a suit even made the experience ten times better. **  
**

Alex sneaked in the bride’s changing room, trying to give Sydney a surprise before the ceremony. She had prior obligation so that she couldn’t come to Kansas City earlier, but she managed to get the bride some special gifts.

However, Sydney was out with other bridesmaids at the moment, and Alex didn’t expect that she would see Abby buttoning up her dress shirt and then putting on the suit jacket.

Abby was looking herself in the mirror, jaw set and lips were pressed tight.

At a glimpse of moment, Alex thought it was the scene that appeared in her dream a couple years ago, the scene she dreamed to see in her wedding recap video, the wedding between Abby and herself.

“Oh, you look so good, Abs.” Words were out of Alex’s mouth even before she knew it.

“Hey, Lex, ” Abby turned around and smiled, adjusting the cuff buttons, “you’re stunning, too.”

“You’re stunning, Lex.”

That were the only words that Abby managed to hold on the tip of her tongue when she opened the door, as Alex came into full view.

It was a sunny Saturday in early Spring, the day marked as the 6-month anniversary of their relationship.

Abby invited Alex to her house for a very formal date.

Abby made the dinner, lighted up the candles, pulled the chair, opened the champagne~~ Everything was romantically on point and Alex made a mental note to herself that she should make extra effort to prepare their 1-year anniversary celebration in return.

When Abby carried out a small pyramid of macaroons as dessert, Alex thought her life wouldn’t be nearly as great without Abby.  

“You know we should be on diet, right?” Alex raised an eyebrow.

“I thought they looked cute. You’re cute. Thinking of you, I bought them all.” Abby provided a cute explanation, as cute as her smile.

“Dawn is gonna be mad if she knows I go crazy for the macaroons.”

“I’ll keep the secret for you.” Saying that, Abby put away both of their phones, “Although it means no picture to show off in the group chat tonight.”

They certainly didn’t finish all the macaroons.

The dinner was interrupted, so to speak, when Abby leaned forward to kiss away the icing at the corner of Alex’s mouth.  

Alex didn’t remember when Abby turned on the stereo, or when Abby walked around the dinner table and pulled her up.

Alex didn’t remember how they ended up kicking off their shoes, stood on the soft carpet.

Alex did remember though, Abby told her that the song playing was just released, and Abby asked her to pay attention to every single word in the lyrics.

Then Alex understood why Abby murmured to her ear that the song could be a perfect choice for their first dance, when she buried her face into Abby’s neck, holding Abby closer. **  
**

[...You’re one of a kind

Thank God you’re mine

You're an angel dressed in armor

You're the fair in every fight

You're my life and my safe harbor

Where the sun sets every night

And if my love is blind

I don't want to see the light. **  
**

It's your beauty that betrays you

Your smile gives you away.

Cause you're made of strength and mercy

And my soul is yours to save

I know this much is true

When my world was dark and blue

I know the only one who rescued me was you **  
**

Close your eyes

Let me tell you all the reasons why

You're never gonna to have to cry

Because you're one of a kind

Yeah, here's to you

The one that always pulls us through

You always do what you gotta do baby

Because you're one of a kind. **  
**

When your love pours down on me

I know I'm finally free

So I tell you gratefully

Every single beat in my heart is yours to keep..] **  
**

They swung along the song.

"I'm really not a good dancer." Abby laughed at herself, and most of her teammates would only shake their heads for her dance moves in the locker room.

“I don't mind at all.” Putting her both feet on Abby's, Alex looked up at her charming forward, and then placed some soft kisses along Abby’s jawline.

Alex would never forget the way Abby picked her up around the waist at the end of the song.

Alex would never forget how dizzy they were after Abby spinning her in circles.

Alex would never forget how dark Abby’s ice-blue eyes turned to be when they held each other up.

No one had touched her heart in similar ways, as Abby had; and Abby seemed to find one more way each day.

Until.

Until they were apart.

Oct.27, 2015.

Abby Wambach announced her retirement.

After the team visited the White House.

Some of the gals even had no idea what was going on until they got out of their own flights leaving from Washington D.C.

Carli thought she and Abby could share the Olympics gold celebration again on the field in Rio.

She texted Hope right away, “Did you know that?”

“Not until 20 minutes before it went out on internet.” Hope replied. The heartbreaking emoji she used on her Instagram post said it all.

 

“You are and will always be a legend. A true champion who has given so much to this team and who has carried this team for so many years. You will be missed.” Carli posted a photo of her placing the captain’s armband on Abby, in the World Cup final.

Carli will definitely miss the challenges that she and Abby gave to each other, from the on field performance to the mini-golf off the field.

“Another fantastic assist by Abby Wambach” --- Carli.

“Not sure I would ever say that pass was fantastic, but I’ll take the assist. I like to challenge you Car! Keep it up!” --- Abby.

Carli will also miss their conversations when they talked about life.

“Abby, what we were talking about today: Everything you do is based on the choices you make.” --- Carli

“So so good and true.” --- Abby

More importantly, Carli will definitely miss the most talkative forward she has ever known, who also happens to be another person besides Hope, that can make her remember how to be happy again, to purely enjoy the game of soccer again.

 

Alex wouldn’t argue that it was still difficult for her to ignore a twinge in her heart when she knew Abby’s retirement was confirmed.

Abby mentioned about retirement the night she broke Mia’s record: “If I would end my career right now, I would have done it before breaking the record. That’s how much respect I have for Mia, how much she has done for me personally, how much she is doing for even Alex Morgan, still. Mia wants players to break her records. I now want Alex to break mine, and I just told Alex: you’d better do it much less time than I did’.”

At the time, Alex responded to the media: “The number is gonna keep going! Abby is not going anywhere. So, she’s gonna crush Mia’s record and continue on. We’ll see when it comes to the World Cup time, what number she has then, because I see it just keep getting higher.”

Abby has scored 24 more goals by the 6th game of the World Cup Victory Tour.

 ****

Abby and Alex actually talked about the retirement once again, on the flight back to the U.S. as the World Champions.

“I’m sure we’ll have tons of flights for all the celebration parties around the country~~” On the plane from Vancouver back to L.A., Abby happily complained.     

“Still not get used to the flights?” Alex turned to the tall forward who sneaked in the seat next to her.

“Well, just don’t let me sit in the middle seat.” Abby shrugged.

“Or make sure you have the priority to use the armrests.” Alex smiled back.

Last time when Abby was stuck in the middle seat with both armrests occupied by the passengers next to her, Abby tweeted a selfie before the plane took off, making Alex literally laugh out loud at the grocery store when shopping for their dinner. Alex immediately texted Abby: “Armrests are ready for you on the Land Rover waiting at the airport. Safe flight and see you soon, Abs. By the way, you can have my window seat next time~~”

Abby would still take the aisle seat though, when flying with Alex. One reason is that she knows Alex always prefers the window seat, the other reason is that she loves to reach the overhead without stepping on the seat to put their bags up.   **  
**

“The view is really beautiful.” Looking outside of the window, Alex switched the topic.

“Yep, maybe I can really enjoy more when traveling around the world afterwards.”

Alex turned to Abby, waiting for further explanation.

“You know, after retirement.”

Abby was not surprised to see the “I don’t wanna talk about this now” look on Alex’s face.

Letting out a small laugh, Abby stood up, patted Alex’s head and made fun of Alex for losing her voice, “More water?”

“You’re a horrible person.” Alex playfully narrowed her eyes.

 

The first time Alex celebrated so hard that she lost her voice was back to 2012, in London, after the gold medal ceremony.

The locker room immediately turned to a mess when the team rushed back to change for the award ceremony, and it certainly got more chaotic after they returned with flowers in their hands, gold medals on their necks.

Alex somehow managed to find a neat spot in the locker room and grabbed Abby to take a picture of her and her first Olympic gold medal.

When Abby handed back the phone to Alex, Pinoe and Lori stormed across the locker room, knocking Alex out of balance. Abby stepped forward right away to catch Alex.   
The warmth spread from Abby’s chest to Alex’s forehead, and the firework happened.  
It was called the beginning of the Dynamic Duo’s love letter.  

The picture Abby took for Alex was blur, but their love wasn't.

"I love you. I think I'm in love with you, in this moment." Abby said, more likely was screaming out, to Alex, who just scored a game-winning goal, during the last 30 seconds of the London Olympics semifinal. Alex recalled that moment, when they were holding hands, escaping away from the crowds in their celebration party, to explore the beautiful night of London.

It was their first date. Alex finally made it official. Alex hadn’t been able to take her eyes off of Abby since the locker room moment, so she decided to ask Abby out, right in the middle of cheering, right at the heart of London.

"I was not even kidding. Syd could prove it." Squeezing Alex's hand, Abby looked into Alex's eyes, "but since we were in the middle of the dogpile, surrounded by our girls, I had to added that was in that moment."

The love fest could always bring a wide smile on Alex’s face.

Almost the entire team expressed their loves to Alex in different words, and Alex hadn’t realized that three words were so profound as they came out of Abby’s mouth, until in the bunch of interviews later, when the reporters recalled their celebrations.

"When did it start?" Abby asked curiously, as they were sitting on the grass, at the bottom of the London Eye.

“Umm, not sure whether I should tell you though~~” Alex shyly hesitated.

“Why not? I mean, I’ve known your biggest ‘secret’ now.” Abby joked, “I swear I won't laugh at you”, and then patiently waited for Alex to answer.

All of sudden, Alex tackled Abby down on the grass, asked breathlessly while resting her hands on Abby’s collarbones to hold herself up a little bit, “Remember the tackle?”

Sometimes it was just hard to make a clear cut for the feeling of falling in love. The small things added up. Such as the tackle; or back to when they had the send-off camp in Sweden before the Olympics, the innocent face of Abby who was struggling with the time change and woke up out of an afternoon nap to Alex’s turning on the TV, asked “Is the game on in the a.m.?”; or even earlier, when the team flew to Jacksonville, Alex tweeted at her seat: “Should I watch the movie Flight while flying? Yes or no answers quick I gotta turn my phone off!” And literally five rows behind, Abby tweeted back: “I’m on your flight, I say no.”

“I thought you were going to punch me.” Abby’s voice was a little bit rough, meeting Alex’s eyes, with her arms around Alex’s back, pulling her down to connect their lips.

Speaking of punch, the cheap shot of the Colombian player really pissed Alex off. Alex’s tweet after the win said it all: “Abby Wambach can and WILL score after a #cheapshot #suckerpunch.”

It was also funny that after getting up from the turf after the sucker punch, Abby even didn't look at Alex, when Alex asked whether she was okay as they walking back to their dominant zone on field. Abby was so eager to get back to the game, and yes, she scored, and did a great celebration, which Alex recommended people to check it out on YouTube during the interview.

“On your eyes, no punch from me, only kisses.” Alex then proved it by placing a open-mouth kiss on Abby’s right eye, which was almost fully recovered.

“I’m so glad you come to see the rings with me.” Walking back to the hotel, Alex grinned and quickly pecked Abby on the cheek. Abby ran a hand through Alex’s hair, amazed by how adorable Alex looked like when she was sharing her excitement.  

The Olympics rings on the bridge.

The rings.

There was actually another set of rings that Abby picked out for Alex and herself, a year later.

 

 ****

Julie Foudy’s reflection on Abby touched many people’s hearts.

As the one played with most of the 99ers, all of the 15ers, and everyone in between, Abby came smiling and chatting into all her teammates’ lives. Not only her national team teammates, but also those outstanding players in clubs or from other countries.

The smiles, the grins, the innocence, the big-kid mentality, the biggest heart, the passion, the selflessness.

Everything.   **  
** “Congrats Abby for an amazing career. You have given every ounce of your being to this game, your team, fans, and the U.S. jersey. Thank you for carrying the game on your shoulders and leading us with such character, courage, and grit. Congrats. G.O.A.T.” --- Mia Hamm

“The game will forever be different without you! You are the best!” --- Christie Rampone

“My best friend, you’ve changed the game forever.” --- Sydney Leroux

“The team has been on your back since the day I got here. Of course you will be missed, but more than that you will be remembered, Abs. Thank you for everything.” --- Megan Rapinoe

“Thank you Abby for everything you have done for this team, sport, and me!” --- Julie Johnston

“A legend. A friend. A force. Love you buddy.” --- Heather O'Reilly

“Congratulations to Abby on an amazing career. Very lucky to have played with her, great player even better person!” --- Sam Kerr. Sam once even wore a Wambach jersey and made the photo as her own profile picture.

Christie also posted a photo of the Rampone girls with Abby, taken after the NYC ticker tape parade.

Abby with her teammates’ kids, could easily touch the softest bottom of Alex’s heart.

Before the Fan Tribute Tour started, the gold medalists had a short break to celebrate with their families and friends. After spending some quality time with both families, from Diamond Bar to Rochester, Abby and Alex did a short road trip around the New Jersey area, and were invited to the Rampone household for a girls’ weekend. Carli was there, too.

Alex helped with Christie in the kitchen to wrap up the dinner preparation, Carli was playing with Reece while Abby was asked to pick up Rylie from a play practice.

When Abby arrived at the school parking lots, she checked her phone real quick and saw a text from Carli on behalf of Christie: “ Rylie should be waiting at the auditorium where there’s a sign saying Play Practice for Hello Dolly.”

10 minutes later, the first thing Abby asked Rylie was “Hey, where’s your Hello Kitty costume?”

Another 30 minutes later, Abby explained to the three women who were laughing hysterically in Christie’s house, “I thought it was Hello Kitty at the first sight, and I was like WHAT~~ but since I was rushing to pick up Rylie, I really didn’t have the chance to check it out again.”

“I get to tell Hope about this!” Carli pulled out her phone, typing quickly.

“Can I tweet about it though?” As soon as she managed to hold back her laughter, Alex asked.

And before Abby could answer with a pouted face, their Captain America commanded: ”Alex, don’t, don’t embarrass Rylie though.”

Alex could only laughed, harder.

That night, on their way back to the hotel, Alex teased: “How about I getting a Hello Kitty costume for this Halloween?”

“Umm, I prefer the Beach Babe though~~~” Abby definitely remembered the team Halloween party in Cancun.

“Or are you trying to say I’m too old for a Hello Kitty?” Alex raised an eyebrow.

“No no no~~” Abby put her both hands up, and then fixed her snapback unnaturally, like a little kid was caught before a prank.

“You looked cute in that Pia costume though, but I’m gonna ignore you if you wear it again.”   **  
**

On their first Halloween spent together as a couple, Alex didn’t dress up with Hello Kitty costume. Instead, she bought two matching onesies for herself and Abby, as well as an adorable gator costume for Kingston.

It is safe to say that Alex spoiled Kingston way more than Abby could imagine. Alex always played with him whenever she stayed at Abby’s place, always took away the duty of dogwalker from Abby, and always urged Abby to buy a new toy to bring home to Kingston after every national team camp or just handed a new toy directly to Abby after every time they met when their clubs played against each other. Although Kingston was no longer a puppy, Alex would always claim that he was the most adorable one, and still as a puppy in her eyes.

Sometimes Abby would think that Kingston definitely regarded Alex as his favorite human.

What’s even better? Alex was her favorite human as well.

Due to the national team duty around the Halloween, Alex had to bring the two onesies to the camp, while Kingston’s costume was delivered to one of Abby’s friends, who helped to take care of Kingston.

Thanks to the technology, there was a thing called FaceTime, and they were lucky enough to find their names were next to each other on the roommates list.   

After the adorable FaceTime with Kingston, when cuddling with Abby in bed, Alex curiously asked about what other people’s costumes looked like on Twitter.

And then it came to a photo of a group of girls dressing up as Pinoe, Alex, and Abby.

Alex retweeted and tagged Abby: “Do you have a tattoo?!” And then she received a text from Sydney: “REAL SUBTLE Morgan~~”

Literally 30 seconds after Abby tweeted back her reply, Sydney texted again, to both of them: “only subtle couple tweet each other when in the SAME room, or even bed?” **  
**

Another time Sydney had to make fun of Alex “Can you be more obvious?!” was when they were on the bus heading to the game against Netherland.

Tobin playfully asked whether she should switch seats with Abby so that the pair could be bus buddies from then on.

“Although we are not sitting together,” Abby turned to Alex with her irresistible smirk, “no worries, babe, I’m just a single word away.”

This statement already made the gals sitting nearby either groan or roll their eyes, not to mention the winks that the pair gave each other before Abby headed back to her seat next to Christie.

However, “a single word away” turned out to be “a single tweet away”.

“Name that head… #USAvNED.” --- Abby

“When I am curious what’s going on in the front of the bus and I can just look on twitter #firstworldprobs.” --- Alex

That night, USA won the game, beating Netherland 3-1, both Alex and Abby were on the bench.

Well, the next morning, when the team had a day off, Hope woke up to a mischievous smile of a certain squirrel, who switched the room with Abby last night, “Hope, Hope, the first news today, or I should say the headline: Abs was benched again for a while by Lex last night.”

“How did you know?” Hope rolled her eyes.

“If I told you, I’d have to kill you.” Kelley smirked.

Did Kelley say she overheard the cutest argument which was about the twitter incident on bus between Abby and Alex? Ask Hope.

Kelley could also proved that Abby was just as obvious as Alex at the time.

Like when she and Abby arrived earlier for an event while Alex got a next day flight, Kelley found out Abby was quickly typing on the phone and then tweeted out: “Kelley was my buddy of the day. See you soon, Alex.”

Kelley then decided to message Alex right away, to tell her that simply seeing a guy wearing a Morgan jersey at the airport already made Abby’s day.

 ****

Their first Thanksgiving together was spent at the Morgan’s household.

After the family dinner, it was not surprised at all to see Alex was too full to move.

And when Abby playfully asked whether she was allowed to pick Alex up so as to move Alex to the living room, the entire Morgan family laughed.

Apparently, Abby asked out loud, and even laughed much louder.

Alex was so worried about the sound of Abby’s laughing would shake down the ceiling that she tried to cover Abby’s mouth, or because she was so embarrassed by thinking that she might not look that perfect in the eyes of Abby, her Abby, her one and only Abby.

The tall forward managed to catch the shorter one’s hands, before they reached over her mouth.

Abby then pulled Alex in, whispered against Alex’s forehead, “Belly is still firm, you’re still hot, I still love you so much, never change.”

Then Alex thought that Abby’s voice was the best sound in her world.

Later, Alex experienced the Wambach’s Christmas in style, for the very first time.

Surrounded by Abby’s mom and dad, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, hearing those funny or stupid stories of Abby before they met each other, Alex once got so emotional that she had to snuggle into Abby’s side to secretly wipe her eyes.

The Halloween, the Thanksgiving, the Christmas.

One of the best years, one of the best holiday seasons.

 **  
**  

Sometimes, Alex just lets herself to be thrown back to those memories, which doesn’t surprise herself that sometimes she still wants to smile or cry at how beautiful it felt that they loved each other so much.

Abby feels the same way.

Although they are apart.

Although the love would not be regarded as the present tense. **  
**

“Thank you Abby for bringing me along in your journey.” Alex finally managed to send out this tweet regarding Abby’s retirement.


	10. Follow Me All Over The World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the field pass, I could capture some gold moments during the open training in San Antonio.

Title credit to “All Over the World” by Ola

 

The last four VT games were held across the country in 10 days.  
  
Last time the team wrapped up the victory tour for Olympics was around the same time of the year, December. The holiday season, or their so-called annual vacation time, when they can tell their families that “I’m coming home”, even though it might be just be at home for a week or two. The team has travelled pretty much all over the world; and if the opponents they have played against also count, there would be so many mini national flags pinned on the map. Therefore, sometimes it even sounds a little bit weird to say "travel to somewhere".

“What are you going to do after this Fan Tribute Tour?” Alex asked when they were waiting in Abby’s hotel room before the whole team headed to catch the flight back home from London.  
“Pretty much just spend some quality time with my family. Not care where to go though~~” Abby shrugged, “How about you? Any plan?”  
“Umm, haven’t decided yet, but I really want to explore more.” Alex twirled her fingers, “I know it might sound a little bit weird, because we have been on the road all the time.”  
Alex was so young and passionate. Given this fact, Abby completely understood.  
Meeting Abby’s smiling blue eyes, Alex continued, “I wish I could have been to that many places to play for the country, just like you have done.” Too young for Athens in Greece or Beijing in China, and she just collected the gold here at London in England.  
“You will be in many more places than I have been to, off the field; while on the field, you will break more records when the time comes.” Abby reached her right hand to trail down Alex’s left arm, and pulled Alex down to sit next to her.  
“Thank you for the good words, Abs.” Alex rested her head on Abby's shoulder. “Now, I think I just wanna follow you all over the world.”  
“Hmmm, you just melted my heart with no warning, huh?” Abby smirked, and continued, “But before all over the world, do you wanna follow me back to my home first?”  
“Oh, you're the sweet one.”  
“Thousand Island? Buffalo? Or Rochester? You pick. And I also have a condo in LA, which is closer to your home.”  
“Sweeter!” Putting her ear right above Abby’s heart to listen to the heartbeats, Alex playfully joked that she was going to figure out whose heart was more melted.

  

U.S. vs Trinidad & Tobago  
Game One.  
Hawaii. 

Pinoe tore her ACL.  
Cap suffered a bone bruise that shut her down for the entire December.  
The movement for equality sounded more profound once USSF announced that the game was canceled due to unbearable turf condition that put players at risks.  
“No one is really going to protect us but ourselves.” Alex stepped up to speak out.  
“We are the World Champions. We deserve better.” Hope emphasized.  
Jill was extremely disappointed and there was no doubt for her to stand up and support her players.

Packing for the public training that was added due to the game cancellation, Alex sadly realized that her 100th cap wouldn’t be Abby’s last cap.  
“I know she’s going to do great things off the field and probably continuing somehow in the women’s game, but I’m sad because she was my partner on top for a really long time.” That was what Alex told the media after the opening training in Hawaii.  
Alex once tweeted that Abby was her partner in crime. The partner whom she also have spent countless hours with in weight rooms, in hotels, at restaurants, on buses, on planes, on running tracks, on beaches, in the rains, or in the sun.

 

U.S. vs Trinidad & Tobago  
Game Two.  
San Antonio.

Carli was relieved to see Abby smiling when Abby came to warm up with her and Sydney, to see Abby playfully chasing Aaron, to see Abby laughing with Ali, to see Abby being like a big kid to grab baby Rose’s wrist to pull her down on the turf. Otherwise, Carli might end up pulling Sydney aside to ask what had actually been going on for these a few days.  
The happy Abby is always much more endearing than the serious-look Abby that looking down at her phone while walking in the field last.  
Carli concentrated back to the training, as the Carli scores-every-goal-in-practice Lloyd. What was even better? Abby joined the crowd to cheer for her.

Walking behind Abby, who put an arm around Rose when walking together towards the goal, Alex thought to herself that the Sweet Baby Rose started to become her favorite newbie.  
Rose reminded Alex her first camp, her first conversation with Abby and other veterans, her beginning of being Abby's partner on top for all these years.  
Before the team departing from Hawaii on the “630am-ish” early morning, one of the new rookies in team, Rose Lavelle, was captured by her elder teammates when she was doing her homework.  
“Sweet baby Rose at 6:30am #Homework #OnTheRoad #BlessHer“ --- Ashlyn  
“Sweet baby Rose #getthatdegree“ --- Abby  
The nickname is unbeatable.  
Alex lost her mind for a few seconds.  
Baby Rose and Baby Horse.  
The spellings are similar.

This was the game that Carli earned her 200th cap for the national team.  
The first 20 minutes of the first half was a little bit terrifying due to the turf. The damn artificial turf they were playing on. One opponent player tore her ACL on the turf.Tobin's right chin was bleeding.  
The team almost lost their chills when Alex had a collision with T&T’s goalkeeper. Alex kept her eyes on the ball to receive the long serve from Julie, without noticing the goalkeeper was coming out to get the ball. Kelley was the first one to check on Alex, and then Carli was there, repeating the question “Are you OK?”  
52', an excellent long pass from Horan, a natural midfielder, led to a goal of Alex, who timed the run perfectly.  
However, the team didn’t score as easily as expected.  
Dunn's goal was denied by the goalkeeper and the post.  
Carli was called offside after Alex put the ball into the net.  
Abby knew she might end up yelling at the referee if she was on the field at that moment.    
62', around a minute after she was subbed in for Alex, Press scored the first goal out of her hattrick.  
75', Abby subbed in for Carli. Quickly gave a hug to Abby and passed the captain's armband, Carli had to admit that she got a little bit emotional, not to mention the crowd that was chanting Abby's name.  
Later, Horan finished her excellent performance of this game by her first international goal.  
Abby congratulated the young ladies after their goals, smiling wide, knowing that the team has a bright future.  
Carli made fun of Abby a little bit when they high-fived after the final whistle.  
Abby let out a small laugh at herself, as well as an “I told you I’m getting old” smirk.

“Ugh~I’m getting old, Carli~” the very self-demanding forward murmured on the edge of sleep, after a NWSL game in which the Flash won but Abby missed a golden opportunity to extend the lead, “I should have finished it. I promise to finish mine next time~”  
As Abby’s roomie at the time, Carli gently interrupted while getting out of her own bed to turn off the lights of their hotel room, “It’s okay, Abs, you did a great assist, and we won. Just relax, and sleep well.”  
When Carli found out she was actually watching Abby sleep in the dark, she already heard Abby snored. Carli muttered under her breath, “Good night, Abs.”  
It might sound really stupid, but Carli made herself a mental note that she might eventually give up her feeling on Abby, simply because she knew it would be so heartbreaking if she could no longer hear these soft snores while falling asleep or wake up to a certain snoring forward -- if they were once together, and then would not be anymore.  
Having such mental preparation, Carli sometimes couldn’t imagine how Abby or Alex managed to get over their separation.

Neither Alex nor Abby has ever told anyone else about how it hurt, like when Alex saw Abby’s favorite beer in grocery stores; when Abby was driving, she heard Alex’s favorite song playing as she turned on the radio; when one of them thought for a second about what the other might be doing at the moment; when Abby shopped for Kingston, she realized she had grabbed some cat toys while waiting in the checkout line; or when Alex put on a certain Gator hoodie, sitting by the window on some rainy early mornings, picked out the crossword page from the newspapers and then put it aside.  
The hoodie, Alex kept it in a good place.

It was when Alex prepared a dinner for Abby during a weekend she stayed after flying in for a Thorn’s game against the Flash.  
Wearing one of Abby's old Gator hoodies, Alex teased, “Did you get even bigger after college?”  
“What? I can’t hear you babe~~” Abby replied from afar.  
Alex walked out of the kitchen area, towards Abby who was fixing one of her remote-controlled helicopters in the living room.  
Abby stood up as she put the helicopter back to the shelves, asked Alex again after kissing Alex’s cheek, “What did you say?”  
Pointing at the hoodie, Alex smirked, “Did you get even bigger after college? I mean, this one seems to be smaller than your team jacket. I should steal this one.” Saying that, Alex looked up and down like she was measuring the tall and muscular frame.  
Abby narrowed her eyes, “you stole my team jacket?”  
“I planned to, but I gave up,” Alex shrugged, “too big, you know.”  
Pulling up the hood hard enough to cover Alex’s forehead, Abby playfully messed up with her Baby Horse’s hair, “I'm a large, Lex! I’m not an XL!”  
“I know, you look like though~~” The owner of the raspy voice wouldn’t let go the opportunity to tease back her Teddy Bear.  
Later, Alex did claim the ownership of the hoodie, because some ketchup was splashed on the front of the hoodie.  
Abby wouldn’t complain. She was the one to cause the ketchup incident, by driving a remote-controlled race car into the kitchen area to hit Alex’s feet. Abby could only laugh at the colorful gator face, earning an elbow on her ribs.

Alex and Abby also had a moment after the final whistle blew.  
Abby shook her head for the long run she couldn't make it as easily as before.  
Neither Alex nor Carli told anyone else that when Abby was catching her breath, they felt tears in their eyes while looking at the back of the WAMBACH jersey from the bench.

 

Dec.13, 2015.  
U.S. vs China  
Game One.  
Julie’s Hometown. 

Abby loves all the New New Kids, while Julie’s her favorite, not to mention that she is also a big fan of Zach Ertz, Julie’s boyfriend.

For Julie, Abby is not only the veteran roomie who tweeted out “Julie Johnston, just making sure you’re ok. Have you been kidnapped? #roommatemissing :)” when they were playing in Germany, her very first a few trips with the senior national team. Abby is not only the leader who gave her Chipotle coins and yelled “That’s for JJ” when found out the coins were taken by Zach. Abby is the one usually sitting next to her in the locker room, the first person she goes to for answers, and the best dancer that always catches her attention.

This time, the game against China seemed to be easier than the quarterfinal of this World Cup.  
Tobin got three players, released the ball to Alex, who broke through down the line to serve a cross, leading a bounce back to Dunn to finish it.  
Although the offside flag wasted the nice first touch and the beauty of Alex's shoot, it’s always good to see a much healthier Alex Morgan, a more confident Alex Morgan as well.  
When Alex's goal was denied again, she thought she might need her lucky star -- Abby, or Sydney. Given the fact that they have only played 200 minutes together as the forward trio. The crowd went insane when Abby and Syd got up to warm up. However, Sydney got out of the bench just simply because Abby needed a warm-up buddy, and Abby didn’t play with Alex on top in this game either. Press subbed in for Alex before Abby subbed in for Carli, who looked so done with herself after missing the golden opportunity created by Tobin’s unbelievable footwork at the end line.

The game seemed to be a little bit frustrated for Abby, Alex and Carli; but they have got each other’s back; at their worst, at their best. Like when Abby paced the ball perfectly in or put her body on the line of the box to deliver a perfect assist into the 6-yard area for Alex; when Alex was the first one to jump on Abby, after Abby scored in front of her hometown crowds; when Alex delivered an unbelievable cross from the end line, and then Carli “stole” the goal from Abby in that Olympics final; or when Carli conducted an accurate and long pass again to Abby, who passed the ball with her head to the Baby Horse, who beat three Canadian defenders effortlessly~~

Among all the goals Abby scored, 16 were assisted by Alex, while 13 of them were assisted by Carli.

In the middle of the long flight to New Orleans, Carli chatted with Abby a bit when they met at the back cabin.  
Carli knows there’s no need to persuade Abby to revoke the retirement decision. There’s also no need to say to Abby that she has changed the game forever and left it a better place, or, the name Abby Wambach will be remembered by both the hall of fame and all the fans.  
They just simply chatted about their lives, and some tiny but special moments they have shared.

Later, Abby sneaked in the aisle seat next to Alex.  
They soon won’t be able to fly together as teammates anymore.  
“Lex?”  
“Oh~Thank you, Abs.” Alex didn’t realize that Abby was back from the back cabin, bringing back two bottles of water in hand.  
Before Abby returned to her seat, Alex grabbed her arm, “Just don’t forget to come to visit me.”  
Mouthing a “What?”, Abby didn’t quite get it at first.  
“During your break when traveling all over the world.”


	11. Deep in Your Eyes, I See the Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally got emotionally prepared to finish this chapter, about the retirement.  
> Thanks, Abby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Special shoutout to je54 for the cute statement about Sarah.  
> 2\. Title credit to: “Shut Up And Dance” by Maroon 5

U.S. v.s. China.  
Game Two.  
New Orleans. 

Dec.15, 2015  
Open Training.

Alex spoiled Abby when Dawn told Abby to get up, “You stay here, I will go”, earning a big laugh from Dawn and a shaking head from Abby.

Actually the whole team has been spoiling Abby recently.

Like in the open training in San Antonio, the newbies joined the their veteran counterparts to spoil Abby. Jaelene Hinkle, served endless crosses to Abby because the G.O.A.T. just simply requested it.

“Give me another one. That one was horrible.” Abby jokingly complained, waiting in the box.

A cross.

“Put on my head, Jae.” Abby smirked, pointing at her head.

Another cross.

“One more, I believe in you.” Abby smiled ear to ear.

Another cross, as well as a small sigh from Hinkle.

 

The last open training that Abby had with the national team as a pro soccer player.

Abby won’t be too far away from the pitch, from the game she loves so much; but at that moment, walking back into the tunnel after this so-called the last practice, she had to put on her sunglasses, to hide her teary eyes.

Very few of people noticed that, when Abby was not doing that much warm-up, she filmed the rest of the team on her phone. She would never forget; she wanted to keep more in her memory.

Including Aaron, the team’s press officer who helped Abby to set things up, the entire team was emotionally “attacked” by Abby at their team meeting that night. Cap, Boxxy and Lauren were able to rejoin the team, while Pione, who was recovering from her ACL injury in Seattle, as well as Chalupny, who retired earlier, were put on Skype.  
Along with the video edited by Aaron, Abby spoke, of course, loud enough without using a microphone.  
“As I said before, I have had the best life, because of the friendships I have made in this team. All the good, all the bad, you guys have helped me through it all. The team has meant everything to me for such a long time.”  
Abby thanked each of her teammates and coaching staff specifically, from bearing with her for being such a talkative person, a horrible dancer, to her killer sense of humor, her random snores, and her recent muffin addiction.  
The video was all about their off-field interactions, as friends, as a family.  
At the end of the video, when the team was passing the tissues around, Abby brought out a guitar, claiming she was going to cheer them up a little bit.  
As soon as Hope saw the guitar, she was about to roll her eyes. Her typical facial expression whenever Abby and a guitar showed up at the same time.

That was a usual day-off in camp.  
Due to the heavy rain, the team had nowhere else to go, but being stuck at their floor. Some of them, Alex certainly included, were playing monopoly deal, as intense as one could imagine. Some of them were having a movie marathon in Ali’s room. Some of them, like Hope, were enjoying their readings in bed.  
And then a group of guitar players gathered at the end of the hallway.  
And then the monopoly group started to sing along, with their room door open.  
And then the movie group went out to watch the guitar players for a break.  
Unfortunately, they forgot Hope’s room was just two rooms away from that corner of the hallway.  
Unfortunately, they didn’t know Hope didn’t sleep well last night.  
“What the hell are you guys doing? Can you guys just let me…..” A certain goalkeeper didn’t finish her sentence, with her remarkable angry-mean-goalkeeper look, when she realized Pia was actually the loudest guitar player.  
Abby mouthed an “Oops” to Pinoe.  
Tobin just being chilled and shrugged.  
“Well, whatever~” Hope could only roll her eyes, and then went back in her room to grab out her book and a pillow, heading down to the lobby.  
“I thought she was about to kill me.” Pia looked around innocently, the team laughed.  
Hope was actually about to kill Abby with pillows that night, when the childish forward dare to sneak in her room with a guitar, as well as a ear-to-ear smile and excitement in her voice, “Hope, Hope, let me sing you sleep!”

This time, it was the “Count on Me” by Bruno Mars.  
The song itself was happy and light, and Abby was happy and smiling.  
“Just so you know, I will be there for you all, whenever you need. Call me, and count one, two, three. I know I don’t have super power, but I will be there as soon as possible.”  
Hope felt her eyes were sweating.

 

Dec.16, 2015.

Game Day.

 

Abby got up earlier and sneaked in the bathroom without waking Sydney up.

Abby finally got herself mentally prepared enough to click the play button to watch the tribute video that Nike Soccer filmed.

The tremendous love from those amazing women hit Abby so much that she had to cover her mouth while tears were rolled down her face.

“It’s going to be everything that I’ve learned from you, off the field, that make me a better person, that open my mind and allow me to enjoy life more. I’m gonna miss you.” – Hope  
“Obviously without you, none of us would be where we are. I’m gonna miss that leadership, and looking to you on the field and off the field.” -- Ali  
“I love you so much.” --- Pinoe  
“I love you, Abby. And I’m gonna miss you.” --- Ash 

“Love you ab.” Alex added it to her Insta caption on game day. This might be the first time Alex said out loud these words to Abby in public. It was Abby, who said out “I love you” loud to her first, as captured as a significant part of the Olympics Semifinal Love Fest. No other words could replace what they meant to her, no one could replace the person who had said them to her, for multiple times: like when she peeled off that person’s shirt under the moonlight that peeked through, when she woke up to that person at dawn, when she was kinda annoyed by sorting out the new watches or new toys that person brought home, when she was half asleep and noticed that person carefully slipped under the covers next to her, when that person kissed away her tears to chase away the nightmares, when that person congratulated her for every goal she scored, when that person surprised her at her doorsteps after telling her the flight got cancelled, and when that person held her tight and apologized sincerely after their tiny arguments.

 

They said forwards are supposed to have the shortest memory on the field.  
“When you miss one chance, you focus on the next one, you try again.”  
Alex heard about this theory for the very first time after that terrible practice, in which she had some terrible shots and she even questioned herself.  
Abby waited for Alex in the locker room, after all the other teammates left.   
She told Alex that theory, as well as some struggling moments she had before, and more importantly, she said, “If one of us struggles a little bit throughout the game, the other one carries both of us along. No matter what, I trust you enough to do that for me.”   
Abby didn’t need to say “I’ll do that for you.”  
Alex knew it, since day one. 

However, off the field, the shortest memory thing could convince no one.  
Abby knew it, since day one.  
Abby laughed at herself for remembering almost all the things she had experienced with Alex.  
All the good, all the bad, all the laughs, and all the tears.   
Everything turned out to be more special when being in love with a teammate.  
“Forget me. I know it sounds stupid or even bullshit, but if you’d move on, if you’d be happier, then forget me.”   
“I will never forget you, Abs.” Wiping away her tears, Alex still found it so natural to place a soft kiss on Abby's forehead, even it was the one last time, as a couple, “Don’t say such stupid thing anymore.” 

“None of us will ever forget you.”  
After seeing the Gatorade commercial almost blew up all the social media platforms on her phone, Alex texted Abby, who has always given her confidence and strengths whenever she needs.  
“You can't ask someone to forget you after all the amazing things you have done for them.”  
Alex said so, on the night they separated.  
Well, she had to say it again, before the G.O.A.T. officially retired.

  

Abby Wambach’s final game as a professional soccer player.

The last time Abby Wambach put on the #20 jersey.

Abby surprised the entire world again, by wearing her wife’s last name HUFFMAN.

When the team stepped in the locker room, Carli was the first teammate to notice the difference on the back of Abby’s jersey. Not sure when it started, but it has been a few years that Carli would look at Abby’s locker first every time the team enters the locker room. Seeing Abby’s last name on the back of the jersey somehow has helped her ease her nerves, for all these years. 

The team headed out for pregame warm-up.  
Alex followed Abby to everywhere, like what she did during her first a few camps with the national team.  
Abby used to refer Alex as “the kid”, the kid who would ask her for advice pretty much all the time in camps, the kid who watched her score in awe, the kid who ran so incredibly fast that earned “Baby Horse” as the nickname, the kid who motivated her to work harder in conditioning and fitness training.  
It has been 6 years.  
And this would be their last pregame warm-up together.  
“Alex, put the ball in net!” Abby said so.  
Alex obligated, as the one to finish the last shot of the warm-up.  
As same as the many times she had listen to Abby before, as same as the very first time. 

  
Later, Hope followed Abby back to the locker room.  
This time, Hope didn’t want to be the first person to get in the locker room after warm-up, she wanted to get in with Abby, together.  
There wouldn’t be anymore together for them on the field, in the U.S. jersey.  
Wrapping an arm around Abby’s shoulders, Hope said, “Here we go.”  
“Here we go.” Abby said, together.

 

Before the team walked towards the tunnel, Abby pulled Alex aside. She would like to personally honor Alex’s 100th cap in advance.  
It was bittersweet.  
“Hey Lex, this is for you.” A brand new captain’s armband was put in Alex’s hand, “You know, I planned to put it on you when you got your 100th cap.”  
Alex teared up a little bit, knowing that she was not the only one upset about that one cap away.  
“I guess now I’m officially passing the torch to you, Lex.” Abby continued. She has strong faith in Alex, just like Alex has complete trust in her, since day one.  
When Abby was getting her 200th cap, Alex said: “Abby, this game is all yours.”  
This time, also as the little switch to their conversations during the open training, the words that Abby doesn’t need to say out loud, “I go, you stay. The game is all yours now.”  
“Abs…” Alex couldn’t finish her sentence, as she found out this captain’s armband was even customized.  
“Congrats! And many more to come.”  
“from A.W. to A.M.”  
Phrases inscribed on the inner side.

“from A.W. to A.M.” The other words that Abby doesn’t need to say.  
The words Abby planned to let Alex find out inside the wedding bands, a couple years ago.  
Alex would all understand.

 

Abby started as the captain, cheering up the squad in the line up.  
  
Three years ago, when the team also played against China, around the same time in December, Abby made Alex and Tobin laughing when the commentator was introducing the players.

However, this time, Abby almost made them cry.

Alex was trying so hard to fight back her tears after the pregame hug with Abby that she was the only teammate that Hope had to call back to do the high-five.

Abby is tall, tall enough that Alex could always see her over other teammates; and when the high-pitched part of the national anthem plays, Abby will drop her head.  
This time, when the high-pitched part started, when Abby was blocked by Hope, Alex realized that it was her last time to see Abby in this way; then she couldn’t sing out a single word of the national anthem.

 

During the special presentation, with her family around, Abby shyly explained that putting HUFFMAN on the back of her jersey tonight was to recognize her all-time favorite soccer player, who is also her wife. She also added: “Between a snoring me and our drooling bulldog, she's a very patient woman.”  
The entire stadium AWWW~ 

Alex was standing right behind Abby, for the starting lineup team photo. Carli was also standing in the back row.  
Looking at the last name on Abby’s back, Carli laughed a little bit at her own thought that if Alex saved the solar system a lifetime ago, then Sarah must saved the entire galaxy.  
To have Abby.  
As the home, as the wife.  
The first person to know Abby’s retirement decision is Sarah, right after the World Cup.  
At her retirement speech, Abby said she was going home.

 

“I'm coming home now, Lex!”  
When they were together, Abby sometimes would leave for the Flash’s games or other public appearances. Every time before she flew back to where Alex was at, either at Abby’s place in Buffalo, or Alex’s apartment in Portland, or the condo in LA, Abby would always make such a phone call at the airport.  
Alex swore that she would never get tired of that sentence.  
One of some most beautiful sentences that Abby said to her.  
Just like that night, before breaking Mia’s record, Abby emphasized, when she talked with Alex about her retirement for the very first time, “No matter what I’m going to do, with soccer or without soccer, I will always choose you, choose the life we are going to build together.”  
“I guess playing forward and being your girlfriend are the two best decisions I have ever made. ” Alex looked into the ice-blue eyes, “because now I can let you know that, no matter what, on or off the field, I will always be parallel on the other side.”  
Alex knew she once to be the one that Abby would choose, vice versa.  
At that time, they really meant it.

 

Alex would never get tired of starting with Abby on top, being parallel on the other side.  
This time, before the kick-off, knowing it was the last time to start with Alex, Abby cupped Alex’s cheek in a cutest way, giving a cutest grin that she might only give to Alex.  
One of those several times that Abby treated Alex in such a cutest way off the field happened shortly after their engagement.    
That night, their conversations about their future reached another level.  
They started with the options for last name.  
Morgan, Wambach, Morgan-Wambach, Wambach-Morgan.  
Alex insisted to figure out the last name first before they pick up the first names for their kids.  
Yes, the kids.  
Imagining Abby play with their own kids was great enough to make Alex's struggle of last name forgotten, well, just a little bit. 

“Why not just go with your last name as I planned?”   
“Be creative, be special, Lex!” Abby was not helping at all by suggesting they could even create a combined last name, “like, how about Morbach-Wamgan?”  
“It sounds really like Volkswagen! Can you be serious, Abby Wambach?!” Looking at Abby’s mischievous face, Alex really wanted to kick her out of the house.    

And then Abby started to discuss how many shelves should be added to the house to keep all their trophies, medals, and team photos, so that their kids could see how cool they were.  
“The best dynamic duo! Woohoo!” Abby even sang it out loud, “Beauty and the Beast~~”  
“Oh my god~~” Abby’s big-kid mentality could always make Alex laugh, “don't tell me you gonna learn all the Disney songs to sing our kids sleep.”  
“Great idea, Lex!” Abby grinned stupidly back at Alex, “Oh wait, speaking of Beauty and the Beast, I'm gonna buy some pony and T-rax toys to put in our baby boy’s room!” Abby’s eyes lightened up, “Write it down, Lex!”  
“Geez~” Alex groaned, “I’m not writing it down! T-rax is pretty cool for a boy, no ponies, okay?!”  
“Come on, you're the Baby Horse! Our boy should adore ponies!”

And then the conversation was shifted to the mini closets to store the kid-size jerseys, team jackets, and cleats.  
Alex was kinda annoyed but also found it super cute that Abby did have a short attention span. Abby could not only change hobbies more time than Hope would change her goalkeeping gloves, but also change topics, take over and dominate the conversation, effortlessly.  
“Lex, our daughter is going to play forward, right?”  
“Lex, what number should she wear then?”  
“Lex, how about 13+20=33, or 20-13=7?”  
“Lex, speaking of cleats, I still prefer Mercurial rather than Hypervenom.”

Alex laughed at Abby getting so serious about what would happen like 10 years from then, but her smile only encouraged Abby.  
“You know, time flies, Lex. It has been three years since our first met in camp. And just triple that amount of time, then we will see our little girl gets older enough to play soccer, with us, with our soccer family.” Hearing that, Alex saw the twinkle in Abby’s eyes.   
“How about letting our little princess pick her number when she gets older?” Alex leaned forward and muttered against Abby's lips, “Maybe we will have two girls, then the elder one could wear my number while the younger one would have yours.” 

Later, around mid-night, Alex gave up and dropped whatever the topic was at that moment, since there were too many things written down on the planner, but nothing had been really narrowed down.  
Alex nearly rolled her eyes, and was frustrated enough to shove away Abby on her way back to their bedroom.  
But then Abby pulled her closer, grinned at her, cupped her cheek, making a cute face and cute gesture like a cute but giant Saint Bernard, “No worries, Lex, we’ll figure it out, together.”  
A kiss followed, of course. 

  

The last pregame huddle with Abby.  
As usual, Abby brought all her teammates in the huddle, getting her head in the middle of it.  
Not as usual, there were even more paparazzi around.  
As usual, everyone put their hands in, and the water that Abby just sprayed on her hair was dripping on their hands.   
Not as usual, Abby didn't curse or scream.   
As usual, Abby stumbled on a couple words, and the team laughed.  
Exactly the same as Carli described to the media after the open training yesterday.  
Carli just remembered all the details.  
Not only about all the huddles Abby led through out these years.  
But also all the special and unique moments they shared when they played together on the Flash.  
All the little things that grew their relationship on and off the field, all the little things that helped them understand each other a little bit more.  
All the times that they could read the game on the same page, and could even play with each other with eyes closed. 

 

Abby Wambach, the defensive center for the corner kick again.

Abby Wambach, won the tackle.

Abby Wambach, the name the crowd was chatting for.

Abby Wambach cut in the ball, with her right foot.

Abby Wambach passed the ball to Carli Lloyd, who missed the chance to put the ball back into the net.

Abby Wambach received a good cross from Tobin Heath, grinned and thumbed up.

Abby Wambach still had the 6-pack.

It was all about Abby Wambach.

Everyone in the team has an Abby Wambach connection, as well as many Abby Wambach stories.  
The team played with her, played for her, trying every best to assist her score.  
Just like what they did when Abby broke Mia’s record.  
However, this time, Pinoe was not here, Cheney was not here, and even after the 43’25”, Alex was not here, not on the field.  
When Alex suddenly slowed down her run and then stopped, Abby asked, “Are you ok?”  
“I think so.” Alex repeated.   
When Alex had to stop for the second time, Abby mouthed at her, “It’s okay, Lex.”    
The 25 seconds towards the sideline last too short to review all these 6 years they played together.  
Alex hadn’t known she would walk out of the field in this game earlier than Abby.  
She was struggling so hard not to cry when walking with Abby.  
She wanted to be excellent at reading what Abby’s doing in game, but this was the last time.  
She wanted to score for Abby, so badly.  
Abby just chatted and smiled to her, just like the first time they started conversations in practice.  
Alex could still feel Abby’s smile when they did their final hug on the field, when Abby said: “Let me try to score one in advance for your next cap.”

Three years ago, the last game of the Fan Tribute Tour, Alex was subbed off, while Abby stayed and then scored to make them tied the national team forward duo scoring record.  
After her second goal, Abby ran to the sideline and jumped on Alex.  
Abby’s smile was pressed into Alex’s neck.  
Since then, the team, including the coaching staff, had referred the duo with their new nickname.  
Beauty and the Beast.

  

Abby slapped on the goal post.  
Abby yelled at the team to go back to the normal game plan instead of serving balls for her to score.  
She didn’t want anyone to worry about her getting a goal or not in her retirement game. She was always thinking about the team, thinking about how to make the team the best they could be.  
However, this time, no one listened to their leader.  
HAO took all the set pieces.  
Tobin ran all the way down to get the ball back.  
Carli got taken down for several times.  
The team wanted to spoil their Abby, as long as possible.

Until.  
Until Abby signaled the bench.  
Until the substitution board was on.  
Until the captain’s armband was passed to Carli.  
Until Abby took off her cleats right in the middle of the field.  
Until Press heard the G.O.A.T. said: “Go f*cking score.”

Horan wished she could score for the best role model she could ask for, for the one who had supported and helped her so much during the little time they played and trained together. However, the offside flag wouldn’t allow her.  
Hope wished she could score when she ran all the way up for the corner kick, but her header wouldn’t make it happen.  
  
Abby laughed at herself for not scoring a goal in those 72 minutes, making the team lost.  
Through all these years, Abby represented the team U.S.A. 255 times. Among the games in which she scored, the team only lost twice.  
Through all these years, among the games in which Abby and Alex started together, the team only lost twice, too. This retirement game was the second time.

 

Things started to be overwhelmed.  
It was time for the post-game tribute.  
The team had got Abby’s back.  
Leading by Mitts, the gator team was here tonight: those women who also bleed orange and blue.    
Her old team was here tonight: Julie, Mia, the women who gave her a tee shirt with “Help! I’m talking and I can’t shut up” on it when she was still new to the team, the women who paved the way for her, the women who gave her the key to the kingdom.  
Her 15ers were here tonight; Alex, Sydney, and Hope on her left, while Cap and HAO on her right.   
The new blood of the team was here tonight: those young ladies who have been looking up to her and appreciating all she has done for changing their lives.

After such an incredible career, there’s really not much to say.  
So, she dropped the mic, asked the Bourbon Street to watch out.

Abby is Abby.

 

No one else was in the locker room.  
Abby took off the pullover, and then the jersey.  
Abby put away the cleats with “WAMBACH20” on them.  
Abby put on her casual outfit, fading out her identity as a soccer player.

Before she opened the champagne while quietly waiting for the rest of the team to get back, Pinoe called her.  
“If I’m there now, I’m gonna cry like a baby, Abs.” Pinoe couldn’t find better words to fully express how she felt.  
“Guess what, I still remember you cried in my room during your first camp with the team! You were really like a baby, Pinoe.”  
“Oh yeah, I will never forget that. I will never forget those pubs crawls and beach volleyball games during that camp. I will never forget you, either.” Pinoe let out a small sigh, “I wish I could be there, to serve you some crosses or corner kicks tonight. That would be awesome, right?”  
“To be honest, I would be much happier to see you serve some crosses and corner kicks in Rio.”   
“Watch me nail it in person then.”  
“Yep, I will see you around.”  
“I will see you around, Abs.”  
As Sydney said, “See you in the magic.”

When she heard her teammates’ footsteps were approaching, Abby took a deep breath, and smiled.

Sweet Baby Rose was the one had been pouting since Abby left the field after the postgame speech. Somehow it hit Rose badly because her first camp with the senior national team was the last camp of her favorite player.  
“It’s okay, baby Rose, at least I followed your twitter.” Abby tried to cheer Rose up, “And Kingston and Wilma will meet up soon!”  
“But you just deactivated your social media.” Rose complained.  
“Oh well, you’ve got my numbers, and I won’t withdraw from the team group chat.”  
“Can we take Kingston and Wilma to Chipotle together some time?” Rose finally found a thing to distract herself from sadness.  
“Oh yeah, for sure~” Abby gave Rose a high-five.  
Then they both laughed, knowing things just begin again, in a new way.

Crystal and Julie approached with their locker room dance moves. There should be some smiling ways to do the so-called farewell.  
“I heard good things about my dance moves from the video, thanks ladies.” Abby patted on their shoulders.  
The young ladies could only smile with tears in their eyes.  
It seems to be always like this, no matter who thinks they should be the one to say “thank you”, Abby manages to thank them first.

Moe referred Abby as her hero, who has inspired her in every aspect of life.  
Her hero, a Gator who bleeds orange and blue, even cheered out loud for her when she played for Cavaliers.  
Her hero, picked her up to thank her for the goal assist.  
Her hero, doesn’t expect “thank you”, but expect her to lead the team in the future.

Becky still remembers the only time she and Abby won the crossbar challenge in practice, their “heating wheel package=gloves” conversation on Twitter, the screams that Abby would make when things didn’t go well on the field or the yells at the referees, the staple stitches on Abby’s forehead when they played against Mexico in Cancun, and of course, the intense forward who claimed she was calm but actually was the only one freaking out.  
  
“Keep playing well, and score some back-heel goals, like the one I asked you to teach me before.” Abby smiled at Whit.  
Whit nodded and smiled back, knowing her special love and respect for Abby will continually motivate her to be a better player, as well as a phenomenal person.

Cap was here. Although she didn’t play with Abby due to the bone bruise, she managed to rejoin the team, to watch Abby play.  
“Abby is the best player I’ve ever played with. She’s the toughest competitor I’ve ever played against. But more than that, Abby defined U.S. Soccer. She was U.S. Soccer for over a decade.” As described by Cap.  
Having such a solid friendship for these many years, the two commanders don’t need to say much about how much they mean to each other.  
So, Abby just did a special whistle, and Cap just gave her a bear hug; as the field general and the team captain, as described by Cap.

  
Lauren was here. There has been a special bond between Abby and Lauren.  
It probably started from the first call Abby made in the ambulance when she broke her leg just 5 days before the team heading for Beijing Olympics: “I’m hurt. We need you to fill my spot. You’d better be working out, coz you’re going to the Olympics.”  
Then it has been more than Abby teasing Lauren about watching TV without contacts on, proving the “struggle is real”.  
Then it has been more than Lauren taking a picture of Abby doing ice-bath with an interesting face.  
Then it has been more than Lauren being the first one to check on Abby’s head when she was knocked down by a Nigerian player.  
Then it has been more than Abby cheering out loud when Lauren scored the volley in the World Cup final.  
“Thanks for coming, Cheney.” Abby still called her Cheney.  
“Thank you, Abs, for changing my life for the better.”

  
Boxxy was here. The Old Kids’ moment during the pregame warm-up was captured by the camera.  
On the way to New Orleans, Boxxy already knew there was gonna be a lot of tears.  
Even earlier, when they were having dinner in Portland, Boxxy was totally teared up because Abby was talking about retiring.  
Although there’re happy tears, it still hurts a bit.  
“Glad we just live 4 minutes away from each other, so you don’t need to miss me that much.” Abby joked.  
“I’ll be even happier if you stop buying baby sunglasses or baby watches for Zoe though~~” Boxxy playfully rolled her eyes. Although she would no longer be able to roll her eyes on the team bus, when the loud forward kept talking all the time, she could still bug about it whenever this generous person spoil her child or their soccer family.

 

“Thanks for taking all the set pieces, HAO!” Abby pulled HAO in for a tight hug. They’ve grown in the team together, carrying on the torch passed by Mia. “That photo of me on your Insta was epic by the way~”  
“You know you have a far-more-than-okay career, right? I can’t even count that high as the amount of goals you have scored.”  
“Haha, someone is gonna break my record, you’d better work on your math soon enough.”  
“There’s nobody like you, I’m gonna miss you, Abs.”

 

The Squirrel already missed the Human Tree that she would always jump on to celebrate goals.  
The Human Tree, who wore some amazingly colorful shorts in Hawaii and went surfing with her; who fixed her outfits when the team visited the White House; who was so happy for her first international goal that could barely sleep after the World Cup semi-final against Germany.  
Well, the same sometime-annoying veteran forward, who raised her eyebrow and asked out loud with her remarkable smirk across the long table at team dinner, “why don’t you read faster”, when the defender and the young forward covered their ears for the detailed discussion of the Hunger Game.  
The Human Tree playfully forced her to fight back her tears, by giving her a bear hug while demanding, “O’Hara, you know tears are no fun, right?”  
So, instead of saying anything about how she has been looking up to Abby or how she has been admired the way Abby carries herself, Kelley took a selfie with Abby, another photo that is worth a million words for her, to thank Abby for changing her, the game, and the world.

 

Tobin will miss the storytelling of the loud forward, who had never failed to make her fall over laughing.  
Tobin has known how special Abby is, since she played alongside Abby for the first time; since Abby got up from the bench to catch her after she scored; since she realized how Abby influenced her life, as a person; since Abby wrapped her around with the national flag when they won the Olympic gold together; and since she witnessed how Abby handled the relationship with Alex all the way through and how Alex only talked about all the good things about Abby even after their separation.  
“Love you buddy.” Abby said so when she congratulated Tobin for her 100th cap.  
This time, it was Tobin’s turn to say it.

 

Before Carli said anything, Abby opened her arms and smirked, “Bear hug for the polar bear!” “And, thank you, Carli, for everything.”  
Carli is not the only one who remembers all the small but special moments they have shared.  
Abby remembers when they were playing against New Zealand in London Olympics, when she felt exhausted before a corner kick from HAO, Carli walked towards her to do a small high-five to cheer her up.  
Abby remembers when they were playing against Germany during the Fan Tribute Tour, when she did the “Slip & Slide” goal celebration in rain, Carli slid between she and HAO, and patted on her back.  
Abby remembers when they were playing against Ireland on last Mother’s Day, when she got knocked down by the goalkeeper, Carli stayed by her side until she got up and walked towards the sideline with the medical staff.  
“I will miss you so much, Abs.”  
“I just don't play soccer professionally, we can still hang out!”  
“Very true, very true.” Carli let out a small laugh; Abby could always figure out a way to make her smile. “Remember to mark your calendar, you and Sarah are sincerely invited to my wedding.”  
“Sure! You would look so beautiful in white. Plus, can't wait to see Hope getting so emotional as your bridesmaid.”

 

Hope had no idea why they were laughing at her when she approached to Abby.  
“I will see you two later on the bus.” Giving Abby a hug and then a light slap on Hope’s back, Carli headed back to her locker.  
“I have to say it again, nice header, Hope!” Abby smirked.  
“Come on, Abs, no one could make a better header than you.”  
“Stop complimenting me, okay?” Abby playfully rolled her eyes, “and can we talk about something not soccer? You know, I just retired~~”  
Hope sighed, although there’s so much that has been said about Abby, there’s still more about Abby that should be talked about, that she wanted to talk about. Those routine breakfasts together, those big-word communications that randomly happened in the back rows of the bus, those “Nobody! Nobody!” yelling from Abby who ran back to defend the set pieces, and so many more.  
“Well, you know, Carli plans to stay till after the next circle, and Alex will certainly be able to play longer…”  
“No soccer, Hope~~”  
“Let me finish, Abs!” With Abby’s arm around her neck, Hope seriously demanded, “I was about to say, you’d better make sure by that time, they see your kids running around the field, with their badass-but-childish aunts.”  
“Hahaha, you will be on the field till 38, right?” Abby laughed, “then can I ask the best goalkeeper in the world to coach my kids?”  
“Umm, you probably need to talk with my goalkeepers to see whether they are willing to share some training time.”  
“I will persuade them, effortlessly.”  
“Sounds like you will threaten them though. But really, your kids don’t play forward?”  
“So what? You once were a forward, remember?”  
“I hate you.” The remarkable smirk of Abby just made Hope want to pour the champagne on Abby’s head.  
“Don’t hate me, until my kids piss you off on field, which I wouldn’t allow though.”  
“I just hate to see you retire.” Hope wiped away her tears on Abby’s shoulder, when they hugged.

 

“Don't ruin your mascara, puppy goalkeeper!” Abby made fun of Ash when Ash and Ali walking by.  
“Shut up, Abs!” Ash playfully shoved at Abby.  
“You know I can’t, hahaha~ You can say ‘cut’ though~” Abby raised an eyebrow.  
“Oh yeah, now everyone who has seen the video could laugh at me now~” Ash rolled her eyes.  
“Anyway, thank you, Ash.” Abby pulled both of Ash and Ali closer, “Also, I'm so happy for you two, you know, you have each other now.”  
“Abs~” Ash would really call a cut, if the entire retirement thing could stop. The way Abby pulled her in, just like how Abby has been taking her under the wing.  
“I’m going to miss seeing your face everyday.”  
“We can set up some road trips, you know, I have plenty of time now. And when we travel together, you can face-mark me every day haha~~”

Ali remembered that when she and Abby attended the ESPNW summit together, Abby playfully asked the host, “Do you think I should be done?” Ali turned to Abby and said without second thought: “No no no~~Don't leave me.” And then they joked about tweeting and hashtaging the retirement announcement when it came.  
However, the fact was that, Ali didn’t take Abby’s retirement in any easy way, she hadn’t said anything about it until the retirement game approached, until she had to force herself to accept it.  
The tall forward wearing #20 has been the one she looked up to both on and off the field since she joined the national team, and she have heard even more of the good things about Abby since she and Ash were together.  
“Feel free to blew up my phone anytime you need, Ali.” Abby turned to Ali. Abby pretty much remembered all the words her teammates said in the video.  
“Abs, it would always be a pity that I didn’t get to play with you in Olympics.”  
“We shared two World Cup journeys.” In their first World Cup tournament together, Abby scored the historic header while Ali scored the winning penalty kick against Brazil. In their second World Cup tournament together, they brought back the World Cup trophy.  
“Oh well, I only shared one World Cup journey with you, Abs.” Ash pouted.  
“Come on, Ash!” Patting Ash’s head, Abby continued, “Although we won’t celebrate the Olympic golds together, we will celebrate the baby showers together and many more wonderful moments off the pitch.”  
“Speaking of that, watch out, Abs, we’re gonna spoil your kids!”  
“Before that, I would like to see Krieger on Ash’s gloves soon enough.” Abby smirked.  
“Be our bridesmaid then.” Ash sincerely invited.  
“Are you sure?”  
“Yeah~ you did well at Syd’s wedding, and we will make sure you wear a nice suit.” Ali smirked back.

 

“I heard my name~~” Saying that, Syd took over the conversation.  
Syd the Kid, who had been doing the countdown posting on Instagram, taking amazing pictures of Abby as her personal photographer.  
“Did you cry yourself sleep last night?” Abby teased.  
“What are you talking about? I guess I fell asleep earlier than you.” Sydney defended herself.  
“I heard you sobbing.” Abby crossed her arms.  
“No way! You already snored at the time!” Sydney quickly denied, but then she realized how she gave herself away.  
“Haha, got you!” Abby laughed, even no need to bring out the Sydney crying-so-hard Leroux in that video.  
“Score more goals in Rio, okay? I always believe in you.”  
“Then you better show up to do our goal celebration after the game!” Leaning up to hug Abby, Syd tried to hide her teary eyes.

 

Finally, it’s Alex’s turn, to have some one-on-one moment with Abby, before the team making their way to the bus.  
“You won’t be too far away from the pitch, right?” Alex tried to find an easier way to start the conversation, or find herself an easier way to accept the fact that they would not play together in the U.S. kit anymore.  
“I will keep watching you play, whether in person or not. So, keep playing well, and break my record soon enough.” Abby smiled.  
She remembered the promise she made before, so did Alex. One of the memories they created together, intimately.

One night in the comfy LA condo, they casually talked about the life after Abby’s retirement, when they were picturing their future.  
“You’d better be at the game when I’m going to break your record.” Alex demanded, “Otherwise, couch or the dog house for a month, you pick.”  
“What if I have other obligations at that time?” Abby argued.  
“Family obligation? Then I will be with you for sure.” Alex raised an eyebrow.  
“Awwww, that’s sweet.” Placing a kiss, Abby said between their lips, “But I mean the job obligation that requires me to have business trip.”  
“That sounds like an excuse.” Alex pushed Abby back an arm’s length and pouted.  
“Hahaha~~” Abby loved to see Alex’s pouty face, but really didn’t want to be pushed away, “I was just kidding. Lex, I promise you I will be there, wearing your jersey and watching you break my record.”  
“Well, here are some jersey options that I can reward your promise though: WAMBACH #13, or MORGAN #20.”  
“MORGAN #13,” Abby thought it over, “oh wait, how about MORGAN #21, the number you wore for your national team debut.”  
“Well, I think I should have been wearing WAMBACH #13 for a while by then,” Alex gave out a breathtaking smile, seeing herself in Abby’s ice-blue eyes, Alex felt like she fell in love again, fell in love with this person smiling at her, even more, “you can wear MORGAN with whatever number you want to simply recognize me a little bit.”  
Two week’s later, when Alex went back home from a Thorns away game, the first thing Abby did was to show her a set of new customized jerseys that were delivered that afternoon: MORGAN #13 in large, WAMBACH #13 in two sizes, and MORGAN #20 in two sizes.  
Abby’s romantic way to say “I love you, Lex.” 

Alex gave Abby a hug to break the silence between them caused by the throwbacks.  
“I will wear your jersey at that game,” Abby said to Alex in her ear, “so do my family.”  
Alex wished she could place a whatever meaning of kiss to Abby instead of a simple “Thank you.”  
Just like what Abby did at “the gals only” celebration for their World Cup victory.  
No one was 100% drunk; no one was nearly 50% sober either.  
Pinoe started to collect all their phones, saying “No pictures and no recording for the following event!”  
Everyone else obliged yet confused, until Pinoe spoke again with such a huge mischievous smile, dragging Abby to the center of the room, “I just remembered that someone made a promise before the final! Abs, you have to kiss all your teammates! You could start with me!”  
The gals all went silent for a few seconds and then cracked up.  
Someone even started to chant, “Abby! Abby! Pinoe! Pinoe!”  
“Sarah is gonna kill me!” Abby sighed.  
“Sarah will never know! No evidence! All the phones are there, see?” Pinoe proudly pointed to a huge black garbage bag, the gals could only shake their heads.   
“Geez~~ don’t even make me start it!” Abby cleared her throat and continued, “Well, you all know me, I keep promises. So, here we go!”  
The gals roared.   
Hope smirked at Carli, mouthing a “Finally!” Carli swore she would like to cover Hope’s mouth for the rest of the night in case the goalkeeper got too drunk or too hyper to keep her secrets.  
Pinoe was the first one for sure, and then was Ash, Syd, Ali, and then Kelley yelled that Abby should go with their numbers.  
Hope was right, Carli’s heart almost jumped out of her chest during those 3 seconds when Abby leaned down, to place a soft touch at the corner of her mouth.  
Abby didn’t kiss everyone on their lips; the kisses were randomly placed on foreheads, cheeks, or the corners of the mouth.  
Abby loves all her teammates, in different ways.  
Hope was right, again, that pretty much everyone in the team had sort of crush on Abby.  
“Sarah will not kill Abs, but us.” Becky clearly made a sober statement.  
“It’s all Pinoe’s fault.”  
“Don’t you say you enjoy, huh?” Pinoe cut in the conversation, and then walked away.  
“Geez~ Rapinoe, you are super drunk!” Becky could only yell back.  
Alex allowed herself to be a little bit jealous when she saw Abby was kissing other teammates.  
Abby’s intimate way to thank them.  
When Abby approached to Alex, Alex was a little bit nervous.  
When Alex realized that Abby was already standing before her, it suddenly got so quiet in the room that she could hear her own heartbeats, Abby’s as well.  
It had been a while since the last time the team saw the Beast kiss the Beauty.  
Not only the way Abby kissed Alex at the moment, but also how Abby treated Alex on and off the field, indicate that Abby has been loving and caring about Alex as much as she could, but it just has to be in a different way. 

Alex thanks Abby for bringing her along in the journey, and she knows the journey is way much more than just of soccer.  
Alex would never forget how Abby came smiling into her life.  
The day she realized that dream of playing next to Abby, Alex would never forget, either.  
Abby Wambach is a life-changer.

 

Dawn motioned the team to get out of the locker room.  
Walking passed the duo, Kelley urged, “Come on you two, the team just made a bet that the last one get on the bus would buy the whole team a round of drinks when we storm all the bars on Bourbon Street tonight.”  
Abby turned to Alex, with her impish and endearing smile, motioning Alex to get on her back, “Need a ride?”  
Alex certainly jumped on her forever human tree, with laughs and tears.  
“Oh wait!! That’s not fair, Abs! Why don’t you give me a ride?!” Kelley complained out loud while following the duo running to the bus.  
“You almost pulled me down when we did the piggyback yesterday~~” Abby defended immediately.  
“Are you serious?” Kelley nearly dropped her jaw on the floor.  
“I'm kidding; but seriously, I just can’t let Lex lose!” Abby certainly covered all the cost for the celebration parties in advance. She just needed to protect Alex, as much as she could, in as many ways as possible.  
That’s her promise.

  

“There’s going to be a special hole. It’s never going to be able to be filled, because Abby is a special type of person, a special type of player.” Kling said so in the interview.  
This special person has taught her that her voice is strong and powerful and to use it for good.  
In front of the camera, Abby asked everyone in the Superdome, “Smile! It’s okay.”  
However, sometimes, it’s okay to admit that it’s not okay.  
Just like the pretty good cry Abby had, seeing Foudy show up at the entrance of the locker room.  
Just like the next morning, when the team said goodbye to each other at the hotel lobby, there was no word to describe the feelings, or to predict how the rest of the team would feel when they get back in January but without Abby being with them in those every 90 minutes.  
Not sure who was the first one to burst into tears, and then the team ended up escaping from the lobby before everyone lost it completely.

 

Not sure what would start the emotional waves.

Maybe it would be just as casual as the “what’s up guys” when someone gets on the bus.

Maybe it would be just as well spoken as someone attends the press conference.

Maybe it would be just as low as the “break your legs down” someone dances in the locker room.

Maybe it would be just as high-pitched as the part of the national anthem that someone will skip.

Maybe it would be just as short as the a few seconds of silence before someone speaks during the pregame huddles.

Maybe it would be just as creative as the “face-marked” when someone complains in a game.

Maybe it would be just as intense as the high-five that someone gives when walking back to the field from halftime.

Maybe it would be just as ice blue as the eyes that someone looks for during the big games.

Maybe it would be just as confident as the “go go go” when someone hesitates before their shot.

Maybe it would be just as quick as the ball being headed in the net.

Maybe it would be just as natural as the goal celebrations that someone jumps on a human tree.

Maybe it would be just as typical as the “go f*cking score” when someone cheers up the subs.

Maybe it would be just as quiet as the team dinner suddenly gets and then everyone has to figure out the next topic.

Maybe it would be just as loud as someone calls out Abby’s name when they remember something hilarious and want to listen to those stories again.

Maybe it would be just as effortless as someone carries the birthday girl in team to the bus.

Maybe it would be just as cute as the certain cartoon theme child-size cap someone puts on at the so-called kids’ table during Algarve Cup.

Maybe it would be just as big as the words someone shares at team dinner after their readings.

Maybe it would be just as amazing as the guitar someone plays in the hallway.

Maybe it would be just as sweet as the ice-creams some of them order on a day-off in camp.

 

No matter how it would start, no matter how the team would get over it, they will still talk about each other like the other one puts the stars in the sky. Everything is gonna be alright.  
“Every single teammate that I have had, every conversation, every bus ride, every sprint, every injury, every hug, every shoulder to cry on, has created who I am. This team has been a collection of fantastic personality.”  
This is the best team that anyone could ask for.  
This will never change.

 

Abby said she would like to travel around the world after her retirement.  
Now without practices or games.  
Now not only going to the locker rooms or stadiums.  
Now the fun begins.

 

And, when Abby is back onto the pitch to rejoin the team again, people might see some scenes like these:

A little girl sitting on Abby’s shoulders, wearing another championship shirt, when Abby, who just took off the suit jacket that she has to put on as a soccer federation representative during the trophy presentation, is childishly jogging around with the team. Her shirt sleeves are rolled up, charmingly uneven.

Or, after the pre-game warm-up, a little boy holding Sarah’s hand when they are waving to the bench; and then the former forward who now sitting with her coaching colleagues runs to the edge of stands to quickly hug her little man and her wife.

Or, Abby just casually walks down to the field to congratulate the team, holding one of her tiny humans on each hand and smiling ear to ear. She also gives big hugs to her teammates’ kids and asks them a million questions. And the team joke about how many headlines she has made recently by tackling the equality issues.

 

“To keep looking and searching for something more. It’s not better, just more. More equality, more happiness, more truth, more trust, and just that unwavering desire to be the best.”

 

The life is beautiful.

The future is bright.


End file.
